IBM's PC Lifecycle Solution: Desktop Management from Cradle to Grave

Desktop support ranks among the most challenging tasks handled by enterprise IT today. One reason for this is the sheer size of the installed base of desktop computers. Many enterprises have thousands of employees, yet the IT staff supporting them is several orders of magnitude smaller.

Additionally, the lifecycle of a personal computer, once it enters a company, is typically a long and complex one. It involves many stages, each with its own problems, and each stage requiring desktop management technologies aimed at solving those problems.

In the real world, however, desktop support of this type is not always available. Thus, IT teams often find themselves switching between separate, isolated desktop management products, which slows productivity and time-to-solution for the end users. The negative fiscal and operational consequences to the enterprise as a whole can be considerable.

The IBM PC Lifecycle Strategy
IBM's PC Lifecycle software portfolio, an end-to-end solution, is designed to address all of these challenges. IBM offers a collaborative, integrated suite of desktop management products with a comprehensive range of features which address every stage in the PC lifecycle. In many cases, IBM technologies can be used to completely automate tasks which previously required extensive, time-consuming manual attention. The software, once configured, frees IT staff to solve more complex problems themselves. Thus, IT service to the enterprise as a whole is improved.

As one example of how the IBM strategy plays out, consider the first general phase of the typical PC lifecycle: deployment. In the deployment phase, a new PC is ushered into the company, software is installed and configured, and the PC is then deployed into service for a particular end user. This has historically required considerable time and energy from IT staff, since the computer doesn't come from the factory with the software applications, data, settings, or in many cases, even the operating system its end user will ultimately require.

With IBM's PC lifecycle portfolio, however, the deployment phase is dramatically simplified and shortened. Through the use of IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager (TPM), it's possible to reduce the hands-on IT work of deploying a desktop computer to three steps: setting up the computer physically, connecting it to the network, and turning it on. Subsequently, this PC will boot from a preconfigured server on the network, and TPM will recognize it. TPM will then install an appropriate, IT-created disk image containing the suitable operating system, applications, data, and configuration settings.

In the second broad phase of the PC lifecycle—management—IBM solutions continue to deliver. The management phase can be loosely defined as the period of time after deployment but before retirement, when the PC is actually in use, yet requires ongoing monitoring and modification. This typically means software must be patched, installed, reconfigured, deleted, or replaced. Such operations occur on an ongoing basis, and here, too, TPM is enormously helpful to the IT team, since it can provision new software or data to any computer on the network, sparing the team the need for a personal trip.

But other routine aspects of the management phase, such as security and compliance, are addressed as well by integrated IBM products such as IBM Tivoli Security Compliance Manager (SCM). SCM continually monitors the vast network of deployed desktop machines, looking for violations of predefined security policies, federal compliance regulations, or both. In the event of a problem, network managers will receive an alert, and the auditing features of SCM can generate custom reports based on their findings. These reports serve a dual role: They help the IT team resolve problems with deployed computers, but they also prepare enterprise IT for an efficient response in the event of a compliance audit.

In the last phase of the PC lifecycle—retirement—PCs are evaluated, modified if necessary, tracked in the inventory, and their data is archived. Here, IBM solutions such as IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection (CDP) play a key role. CDP migrates data from an end-of-life PC to one or more logical or physical archives in accordance with IT-determined policies. CDP is completely configurable and permits easy data reallocation depending on the enterprise's needs. Subsequently, the data can be migrated if necessary to new computers, to more permanent storage in a tape library or virtual tape library (VTL), or any combination of these.

Of course, this brief exploration of IBM Tivoli products and features as they pertain to the PC lifecycle is far from complete. IBM's PC lifecycle portfolio contains many other products as well, all designed for seamless integration into the enterprise IT infrastructure, delivering the key features the IT team needs, at every stage of the PC's tenure of use, from cradle to grave.

Proven Market Leadership
What, as a result, is IBM's market position as a lifecycle vendor? The formidable strength of the IBM portfolio has received considerable acclaim. A March 2007 Datamonitor report evaluating eight leading PC lifecycle vendors suggests that IBM is not merely competitive, but, in fact, a dominant industry leader.

To develop this report, Datamonitor surveyed more than 500 IT managers and CIOs. It included financial and technological analyses as well. Thus, the report not only addresses the technical features provided by competing PC lifecycle solution suites, but also the market impact and reputation vendors enjoy as a result.

Citing the breadth of IBM offerings and the strength of IBM's brand, Datamonitor singled out IBM as the leader in terms of customer sentiment, where it was also the only vendor that led in every subcategory. Furthermore, IBM was among the top two when viewed strictly on the merits of its technology, across a broad range of assessment points such as maturity, depth, scalability, provisioning, asset management, remote support, policy and patch management, and change and configuration.

The ultimate outcome of the report? IBM was one of only two vendors Datamonitor placed on its shortlist of leading vendors. IBM's attention to modularity, flexibility, and customization—resulting in an integrated, end-to-end solution ideal for the SME and enterprise markets—were all cited as key design wins.