As Corporate IT Moves to more standardised Service Provider Models, IT Process Automation Seen as Critical

London, UK – September 14, 2011 – UC4, the world’s largest, independent IT Process Automation software company, today announced its inclusion in a recent Forrester Research, Inc. report as the most complete provider in the IT Process Automation market.

The Forrester report entitled “Market Overview: IT Process Automation, Q3 2011” (July 2011) states that, “UC4 ONE Automation embodies the trend toward IT process automation convergence to cover the full spectrum of today’s automation needs more than any other vendor’s solution. ONE Automation provides a platform that combines workload and run book automation with system management integration and complex event processing under one umbrella.”

Forrester compared UC4’s offering to 10 competitors in the IT Process Automation market, across 10 capability areas, including:
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workload automation

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run book automation

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low-level process automation

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high-level process automation

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integration into a single automation framework or solution

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ability to combine automation solutions in a single process

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automation self-service

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ability to use SLA or history to trigger automation processes

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integration with IT management solutions

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use of complex event processing as an automation trigger


As a testament to its focus and consistent, unrivaled innovation, UC4 was the only vendor with all 10 areas “fully available” today. Relevant to complex event processing technology, the report states that, “UC4 has demonstrated CEP-based triggering that is superior to all others.”

With a single platform, customers can automate the six primary areas of data center activity: job scheduling, application process automation, run book, virtualisation management, application release automation and managed file transfer.

The report offers some perspective in this regard. “Realise that the tools you use to automate your IT processes today will extend to automating your business processes tomorrow. To make strategic decisions, not just tactical ones, I&O [Infrastructure & Operations] professionals must select vendors that address today’s needs while satisfying an architectural vision for the future.”

With regard to new data center technologies, the Forrester report also states that, “cloud and virtualisation are now accelerating the demand for automation,” and, in fact, that “IT process automation is the cornerstone to enabling these new technologies and models.”

The “Market Overview: IT Process Automation, Q3 2011” report goes on to state that, “By masking IT’s diversity and automating highly repetitive tasks, IT Process Automation is the key to industrialising your operations to improve productivity and reduce costs.” This is fundamental in supporting service providers and enterprise IT as they move to lightweight, multi-purpose platforms that can handle increasingly dynamic applications and IT infrastructure.

Eric Gauthier, IT Systems Administrator for BECU (formerly known as Boeing Employees’ Credit Union), agrees that UC4’s approach is powerful. “The UC4 Automation Platform will greatly simplify our automation road map through its ability to accomplish all areas of IT automation with one tool,” said Gauthier.

“Process automation is at the heart of today’s cloud, data analytics, devops and IT service delivery challenges. As task automation gives way to process automation, IT organisations are looking for best-of-breed platforms that can consolidate silos of automation. UC4’s 25 year history and leadership in process automation give customers a real alternative to the Big4 system management vendors.” said Randy Clark, CMO of UC4.

For a copy of the full report, please visit: Forrester Market Overview: IT Process Automation, Q3 2011.