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September 19, 2008
ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES OUTLINES STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL VIRTUALIZATION SECURITY
New research defines virtualization security and offers advice on how to simplify the process
BOULDER, Colo. Sept. 11, 2008 -Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), (www.enterprisemanagement.com), a leading IT management research and consulting firm, today released new research and recommended practices for secure virtualization in its report, “Virtualization Security: The Early Stages of a New Battleground.” EMA security and risk management analyst Mike Montecillo and research director Scott Crawford co-wrote the study to help provide a better understanding of the emerging virtualization security market while outlining best practices that IT security and operations teams can follow to successfully deploy practical and effective secure virtualization.
In this new report, EMA focuses primarily on how organizations can assure secure virtualization by identifying potential virtualization threats and vulnerabilities, and implementing techniques for securing the virtual environment.
“Virtualization is at the forefront of many security professionals’ minds. Unfortunately, it has become very difficult to create a strategy that addresses the real security issues without being drawn in by the hype,” said Montecillo. “This report is designed to help organizations understand the high-level issues and create a simplified approach to securing virtualization.”
EMA defines virtualization security in terms of the relationship between virtualization and security, including:
- Virtualized security – security solutions that are themselves virtualized, which can benefit virtualized as well as non-virtualized environments
- Secure virtualization – safeguarding primary virtualization functionality against security risks, which may leverage both virtualized and non-virtualized security techniques
- Security through virtualization – the security benefits of this emerging and disruptive technology
Given the relative youth of virtualized security, this report primarily targets the issues IT professionals face in securing virtualization and highlights its security benefits. Although the field of virtualization security is very young, there is already concern that organizations are at risk of overlooking the opportunity to create a safe environment in early stages of deployment. EMA has identified a number of potential threats against virtualization security that includes VM escapes, solution-specific threats and traditional attacks. These threats, combined with vulnerabilities in virtualization, are cause for alarm. In fact, Enterprise Management Associates’ 2008 survey on virtualization found that although many organizations extend existing security-enhancing measures to the virtualized environment, the numbers decreased when the techniques became more specific to virtualization. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents extend configuration and change controls to the virtualized environment. The lowest numbers in the survey, however, related to questions regarding specific controls to the hypervisor (an emerging virtualization platform that allows multiple operating systems to run on a host computer at the same time). Only 26 percent of respondents said they have security controls in place to prevent hypervisor threats. In addition, only 17 percent leverage measures to detect these types of threats.
“EMA research repeatedly demonstrates that a disciplined approach to IT management reduces risk while yielding business benefits across multiple interests – and nowhere is this more true than in virtualization. Security is no exception, and may in fact be one of the greatest beneficiaries of a disciplined approach to virtual systems management,” says Crawford.
Many of today’s gaps and potential security risks of virtualization are related directly to the maturity and effectiveness of management. In earlier EMA studies focused on the effectiveness of IT risk control, research indicates that the highest performers have four cardinal virtues in common: 1) They define IT risk management and compliance objectives; 2) They actually implement them; 3) They investigate the environment to monitor and assess their effectiveness; and 4) They enforce adherence to requirements – through education and positive incentives, as well as through negative consequences for deviations.
EMA believes the key to any security strategy is to simplify the approach. This especially is true in the world of virtualization security where hype and publicity has created an awareness based on a warning, rather than an actual real-world threat. By becoming aware of the environments in which virtual technologies operate and understanding the technology itself, enterprises can develop and properly implement an effective virtualization security strategy and attain the full benefits of virtualization.
To purchase a copy of the report, “Virtualization Security: The Early Stages of a New Battleground,” contact sales@enterprisemanagement.com or +1.303.543.9500.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
For more information on this topic or to arrange an interview with Mike Montecillo or Scott Crawford, please contact Guy Murrel at gmurrel@catapultpr-ir.com or 303-581-7760 x17
About Enterprise Management Associates
Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market. The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm’s extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.enterprisemanagement.com.
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ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES ADDS JIM FREY AS SENIOR ANALYST COVERING IT NETWORK MANAGEMENT
Addition of industry veteran strengthens research and analysis offerings in
evolving network management market
BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 8, 2008 – Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), a leading IT management research and consulting firm, today announced that Jim Frey has joined the firm as a senior analyst focused on identifying and interpreting the latest trends and best practices associated with IT network management and related technologies, like network virtualization, unified communications and network traffic optimization.
“EMA is very pleased to have Jim Frey join our analyst team as we bolster our research and analysis capabilities around the fast-paced and vital area of IT network management,” said Rick Sturm, founder and CEO of EMA. “Jim’s substantial network management experience and deep knowledge of this space will provide immediate value to our clients that require insight and strategy around this integral part of the IT infrastructure.”
Frey has 22 years of experience developing, deploying and marketing software and hardware products, the last 16 spent in network management within the enterprise and service provider sectors. Prior to joining EMA, he served as vice president of marketing at NetScout Systems, where he was responsible for global product marketing, solution marketing, sales training, marketing communications, channel marketing and competitive analysis. Frey was also involved in planning and executing joint-marketing projects with NetScout’s major alliance partners, including HP, Mercury, Riverbed and OPNET. In addition, he played a key role in the company’s 2007 acquisition of Network General and the Sniffer line of products.
Before NetScout, Frey was vice president, strategic marketing at Micromuse, where he was responsible for product and solutions marketing, technology and product alliances, competitive analysis and analyst relations. Prior experience includes product marketing roles with Objective Systems Integrators, Agilent Technologies and Cabletron Systems, where he played a central role in Cabletron’s first foray into telecommunications management solutions. Frey is a regular speaker at industry events around the globe and has been published in numerous journals, proceedings, magazines and textbooks.
“Having spent the bulk of my career in the network management industry, I have always respected the in-depth knowledge and practical advice that EMA offers to both IT vendors and enterprise IT leaders,” said Frey. “I am very pleased to join the firm and to share my insights and experiences with my network management colleagues and the overall IT management industry.”
About Enterprise Management Associates
Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market. The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm’s extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.enterprisemanagement.com.
PR Contact:
Guy Murrel
Catapult PR-IR
303.581.7760, ext. 17
gmurrel@catapultpr-ir.com
July 24, 2008
ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES ADDS LIAM MCGLYNN AS SENIOR ANALYST COVERING DATA CENTER AUTOMATION
EMA continues to add highly experienced IT experts to its analyst roster
BOULDER, Colo., July 22, 2008 – Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), a leading IT management research and consulting firm, today announced that Liam McGlynn has joined the firm as a senior analyst leading research coverage and analysis services on the growing data center automation market along with associated and parallel technologies.
“Data center automation technologies and best practices are now vital to increasing the efficiency and technology resource utilization of large IT organizations,” said Rick Sturm, founder and CEO of EMA. “Adding Liam to our team provides a dedicated analyst who can focus specifically on data center management practices and the exploding number of automation tools now available to our IT professional clients.”
McGlynn brings more than 25 years of experience in various high-level systems management roles, including technician, manager and technology architect. Primarily, he served as a technology advocate with a focus on data center automation as a means of reducing cost and complexity. At EMA, he will focus on data center automation and the related disciplines of event monitoring/console automation, IT process automation, job scheduling/workload automation, remote control, asset and inventory management, patch distribution, provisioning and compliance auditing.
McGlynn’s direct experience includes extensive mainframe systems programming and years of mainframe operating systems, performance tuning, UNIX systems administration and automated operations functions. He also has network architecture, assembler programming, disaster recovery, problem resolution and outage reduction experience. In 1995, McGlynn founded a successful consulting business that specialized in data center automation and UNIX operational control. Most recently, he spent 10 years at Washington Mutual Bank in IT management and technology architecture, leading a series of high-value automation, availability and cost reduction initiatives spanning mainframe operations, data center consolidation, IT automation, virtualization, CMDB and IT Service Management.
“One of the things that sets EMA apart from other technology research firms is the depth of experience each and every analyst brings to the table,” said McGlynn. “I am excited to add my years of IT experience to the firm’s wealth of knowledge and to work hand-in-hand with both customers and other EMA analysts to deliver groundbreaking insights into the data center automation market.”
About Enterprise Management Associates
Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market. The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm’s extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.enterprisemanagement.com.
PR Contact:
Guy Murrel
Catapult PR-IR
303.581.7760, ext. 17
gmurrel@catapultpr-ir.com
May 23, 2008
EMA RESEARCH IDENTIFIES LATEST TRENDS
‘Tire-kicking’ phase is over, yet CMDB remains a challenge
BOULDER, Colo., May 22, 2008 – Recent research from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) shows that the promise of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) has led to a 24 percent increase in adoption rates during the past two years. As part of its continued focus on this IT market sector, EMA surveyed 91 IT professionals primarily at companies with at least $1 billion in revenue to explore adoption rate trends, challenges that hamper success and emerging best practices for CMDB implementations.
“EMA has been closely monitoring the CMDB market for years and our latest research shows that CMDB has clearly crossed into the mainstream of IT practices,” said Chris Matney, the lead research analyst on the project and consulting director of IT services for EMA. “All of our research on CMDB over the years shows steady growth among large organizations looking to unify IT and remove siloed barriers that have hampered organizations for many years.”
This latest research study also uncovered real-world best practices that are crucial for the success of any enterprise CMDB implementation. Based on first-hand input from survey respondents and the firm’s direct involvement in CMDB projects at some of the world’s leading organizations, EMA has identified a number of keys to CMDB success, including:
1. Securing Upper Management Support – obtaining executive support/sponsorship, such as a formal mandate, dedicated communications and budget for the long-term project, was tops and vital for CMDB success
2. Pre-Implementation Planning – solid strategic and tactical planning, including extensively evaluating CMDB tools, identifying ITIL process integration points and defining maturity roadmaps both for both processes and technology, is also a critical step
3. Taking an Incremental Approach – identifying short-term, achievable goals with clear metrics for success and a defined scope for the project is crucial to gaining acceptance and building momentum
4. ITIL and Process – implementing ITIL and related processes for change, configuration and release management is necessary as a means of moving away from the “CMDB is just a tool” mindset
5. Limiting CI Scope and Data Issues – this was the number one piece of technical advice, with a common refrain to limit the number of Configuration Items (CIs) in the CMDB and taking care to produce a standardized data structure
Some additional key CMDB findings in this survey include:
• The biggest driver for the initiation of a CMDB project is support for change management
• The most significant challenge facing successful CMDB deployment is how to maintain and support the CMDB
• Eighty four percent of those surveyed expect a break-even ROI for their CMDB project in six months to three years
• The deployment of a CMDB has many benefits – the most significant of which are improved service levels, reduced downtime and fewer outages
• Integration is the most important functionality to an organization’s core CMDB, according to those polled
For more information on the EMA Advisory Note CMDB Best Practices Survey Highlights, visit http://www.emausa.com/research/ema_product.php?product=4500_1619 or contact sales@enterprisemanagement.com to purchase this report. EMA also offers comprehensive CMDB Consulting Services, including an 8-week CMDB Assessment Service designed to help enterprise organizations lay out an actionable roadmap for CMDB success. To learn more, visit http://www.emausa.com/web/ema_services.php?type=8208 or contact sales@enterprisemanagement.com.
NOTE TO EDITORS
For more information or to speak with Matney please contact Guy Murrel at gmurrel@catapultpr-ir.com or at 303-581-7760, ext.17.
About Enterprise Management Associates
Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market. The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm’s extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.enterprisemanagement.com.
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April 10, 2008
EMA ADDS TWO MORE IT MANAGEMENT WEBINARS FOR APRIL
Webinars on business service performance and the business case for green IT jump on board this monthBOULDER, Colo., April 9, 2008 – Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) (www.enterprisemanagement.com), a leading IT management research and consulting firm, today announced it will host two additional free Webinars focused on IT management during the month of April 2008. The new EMA™ Webinars set for April include:Tues., April 15, 2008 – 11 a.m. Eastern
The Business Case for Green IT
http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=tidewaywebpr0408&bs=tidewayweb0408
Increasing data center energy costs and expanding power utilization needs are having a direct impact on business profitability. Fortunately, solutions exist today for optimizing power consumption in today’s data centers. The key is having a deep understanding of data center conditions to empower a more energy efficient utilization. Steve Brasen, EMA analyst, and Kosten Metreweli, Tideway vice president of product marketing, will teach the audience how to get a precise view of all server hardware in the data center. They will also help attendees understand which servers support which business applications, find decommissioned and unused resources for removal, identify opportunities for consolidation and virtualization, and utilize Green IT solutions to reduce costs and enhance profitability
Wed., April 30, 2008 – 2 p.m. Eastern
Managing Business Service Performance in Complex, Distributed Environments
http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=asgwebpr0408&bs=asgweb0408EMA senior analyst, Paul Burns and ASG vice president of marketing, Jimmy Augustine will discuss how IT can best manage the end-to-end performance and availability of services in support of business needs. During this webinar they will also cover performance management challenges in complex environments and how this approach enables IT agility and business performance.To see the complete line-up of EMA’s April IT Management webinars go to http://www.emausa.com/web/ema_events.php.NOTE TO EDITORS:For more information, contact Guy Murrel at gmurrel@catapultpr-ir.com or 303-581-7760 x 17.About Enterprise Management Associates Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market. The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm’s extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.enterprisemanagement.com.# # #
April 1, 2008
EMA ANNOUNCES IT MANAGEMENT WEBINARS FOR APRIL
Topics include virtualization management, enterprise service desk, ITIL ITSM in the federal government and workload automation
BOULDER, Colo., March 31, 2008 – Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) (www.enterprisemanagement.com), a leading IT management research and consulting firm, today announced it will host a number of free Webinars focused on IT management during the month of April 2008.
The EMA™ Webinars set for April include:
Tues., April 1, 2008 – 12 p.m. Eastern
Automating IT Processes to Ensure Virtualization Success
http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=opaliswebpr0408&bs=opalisweb0408
EMA research director Andi Mann and Opalis President and CEO Todd DeLaughter will discuss how to efficiently manage the people and process changes virtualization requires, and will share a real world example of customer success in virtual management with IT Process Automation.
Thurs., April 3, 2008 – 2 p.m. Eastern
Reducing Customer Support Costs and Improving Service Quality with Remote Support
http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=bomgar1webhl0408&bs=bomgar1web0408
Part one of a three part series. Listen to Lisa Erickson-Harris, EMA research director and Chris Watson, VP of strategic alliances at Bomgar explain how remote support has a direct impact on support cost structure and perceptions of IT service quality in the enterprise.
Fri., April 11, 2008 – 2 p.m. Eastern
How Federal CIOs can Leverage ITIL IT Service Management (ITSM) to Enhance Mission Effectiveness
http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=itsmgovwebpr0408&bs=itsmgovweb0408
EMA director of IT service management consulting, Hank Marquis and federal IT expert Bob Haycock will explain how government CIOs can gain credibility by effectively implementing commercial ITSM best practices, such as ITIL.
Thurs., April 17, 2008 – 2 p.m. Eastern
Making Your Support Organization Part of the Solution: Protecting Sensitive Data Remotely
http://www.bomgar.com/wcemaprotectingdataregisterema.htm
Part two of a three part series. Chris Matney, EMA consulting director of IT services, will review trends in risk, compliance and security management in the enterprise service desk. In addition, Joel Bomgar, president of Bomgar Corporation, will give real-life examples of how Bomgar is leading the charge to address these issues.
Wed., April 23, 2008 – 1 p.m. Eastern
Solving Critical Application Management Issues with Workload Automation
http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=uc4webpr0408&bs=uc4web0408
Join EMA research director Andi Mann and UC4 chief marketing officer Guenther Flamm as they discuss the critical challenges of managing applications to deliver key IT and business goals, with a focus on the best practices for application workload management and automation.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
For more information, contact Guy Murrel at gmurrel@catapultpr-ir.com or 303-581-7760 x 17.
About Enterprise Management Associates
Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market. The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm’s extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.enterprisemanagement.com.
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