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| EMA Research Shows Network Change and Configuration Management Market Evolving |
Study finds that NCCM viewed as strategic investment with profound contribution to security and compliance
BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 9, 2007 – A new study released by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), the leading independent IT management research and consulting firm, reports that the Network Change and Configuration Management (NCCM) market has gained in importance and stature over the last five years as networks have grown more technologically and geographically diverse. The study found that this skyrocketing complexity has driven the requirement for understanding relationships across adjacent network devices and the impact of configuration changes on the behavior of the entire IT infrastructure and its services.
For this report, EMA surveyed more than 100 IT professionals with direct involvement in configuration management activities and knowledge of NCCM tools used in their corporations. Of the survey respondents, 80 percent indicated that NCCM products must integrate with other IT management solutions already present in the environment. This is evidence that NCCM not only supplies native change and configuration functionality, but also enhances the capabilities of other IT management tools.
“There has been an evolutionary acceptance of NCCM strategic importance and functional capabilities,” said Jeffrey Nudler, senior analyst and project lead at EMA. “More than 51 percent of respondents reported having made NCCM purchases in conjunction with CMDB initiatives – highlighting the importance of NCCM and its integration with other IT management components.”
The NCCM market segment is a relatively new addition to the broader IT management market, yet EMA has been involved practically from its inception and witnessed the market go through this remarkable transformation. Until recently, configuration remained focused exclusively on the network device itself. Today, configuration management must take into account the relationships between devices and the impact of change on adjacent devices. This shift from a static, device-oriented approach to a dynamic approach elevates the relevance of NCCM to both structural and operational IT management.
“Business managers are vigilantly working to reduce business risk due to IT infrastructure instability as a result of changes. This new level of criticality and executive attention is accentuated by the fact that 65 percent of respondents indicated that 100 percent of configuration and change management is being done in-house,” said Nudler, “And because of NCCM’s strategic nature, EMA does not see this changing in the near future.”
While NCCM has become increasingly important, corporations of all sizes continue to struggle with configuration and change management challenges. The increase in new device types coupled with the expanding number of devices attached to the network exacerbate the already difficult management issues of efficiently planning, testing and distributing optimal configurations to a large number of IT devices.
About 48 percent of respondents were somewhat or very satisfied with their NCCM solutions, while 25 percent reported mild or high dissatisfaction. “EMA believes that lack of clear and consistent metrics for measuring NCCM success contributes to the fairly low level of satisfaction,” said Nudler.
Regardless of the these hurdles, NCCM’s focus on compliance and security has proven to promote a better documented and more collaborative IT management environment and more and more enterprises and vendors are stepping up to the challenge.
To complement the recently published study, Paul Burns, EMA senior analyst, will share research highlights and explore key aspects of the NCCM market from both the vendor and customer perspective during a free Webinar on Thurs., Oct. 18, 2007. To register, click here.
In addition, a wealth of information on NCCM and vendor solutions will become available through EMA’s Network Configuration and Change Management Solutions Center in late 2007.
About Enterprise Management Associates
Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is the leading independent 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 service level management (SLM) 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 EMA’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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