Gartner
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.
Troux Configuration Management Software
Summary
With the Troux Blueprinting System, Troux hopes to help create a new market with software to map an information technology system that includes hardware, connections and software and to store data in a repository. Table of Contents Overview Analysis Pricing Competitors Strengths Limitations Insight List Of Tables
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
DPRO-118808
5 December 2003 2 Corporate Headquarters
Troux Technologies
6300 Bridge Point Parkway Building 1, Suite 350 Austin, TX 78730, U.S.A. Tel: +1 512 536 6270 Fax: +1 512 231 8796 Internet: www.troux.com Overview
Table 1: Overview: Troux Blueprinting System
Model Troux Blueprinting System
Version 3.1
Product Type Repository system that captures, organizes and updates information about an enterprise architecture. Price (US$) 195,000 Version Release Date July 2003 Original Product Release Date September 2001 Number of Devices Supported
System has been model-tested with up to 20 million components and up to 1,000 concurrent users.
Table 2: Features and Functions: Troux
Software Distribution NA Distribution Policies NA Configuration
Management
Uses the Troux Blueprinting Engine to answer domain-specific questions and perform what-if scenarios to identify and assess the impact of proposed changes. For any entity in the blueprint, users may “follow” its relationships and selectively add related entities to the view.
Mobile/Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Support No Multicast NA Asset Discovery/Inventory
Uses configurable Troux Collectors to collect and aggregate IT environment data from sources and check for changes. Classifies the conceptual, logical and physical elements of the architecture and discovers and documents the relationships and dependencies between them.
Software Metering NA
Remote Control No (remote access and administration supported via Web interface).
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
DPRO-118808
5 December 2003 3
Table 2: Features and Functions: Troux
Backup/Recovery NA
Directory Support Yes, all major directories, as well as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), using NT LAN Manager.
Security Users gain Web-based access only to authorized information. Virus Scanning NA
Administrative Tools and Utilities
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved. DPRO-118808 5 December 2003 4 Integration With Other Management Platforms
Troux collectors and bridges allow the Troux Blueprinting System to be integrated with major management platforms. Information can be gathered from PCs, Unix workstations and mainframes. The following collectors are included:
Management Applications • BMC PATROL • CA Unicenter • CA Endevor • HP OpenView • IBM Tivoli • Microsoft SMS
• Microsoft Operations Manager • NetIQ AppManager
• Peregrine AssetCenter • Remedy Asset Management • Remedy Help Desk
• Remedy Change Management
Instrumentation Methods
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) • Windows Management Initiative (WMI) • Java Management Extensions (JMX) • HTTP
EAI/Middleware • WebMethods Broker • Microsoft MQ • IBM MQ Series
Application Servers/Servlet Engines • BEA WebLogic Server
• IBM WebSphere Application Server • Oracle9i Application Server • Sun ONE Application Server • Apache Tomcat
Web Servers/Servlet Engines • Microsoft Internet Information Server • Sun ONE Web Server
• Apache Databases/Data Management • Oracle 8i, 9i • Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, 2000 • IBM DB2 8.1 • Sybase ASE 12.5 • Microsoft Access • Microsoft DTS
• Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)-accessible relational database management system (RDBMS)
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
DPRO-118808
5 December 2003 5
Table 2: Features and Functions: Troux
NA—Not available.
Analysis
Troux is an enterprise IT information management system that provides an end-to-end map of the IT environment that includes networking, hardware, servers, applications and business processes. Troux provides a baseline picture of the IT environment.
The Troux Blueprinting System is made up of the following components:
• Troux Blueprinting Engine—manages data stored in the Troux Repository and provides services supporting blueprint life cycle management functions. It classifies components, discovers relationships and manages the access to information by modelers and data contributors. The Blueprinting Engine also manages collection and other scheduled activities.
• Troux Repository—central database of enterprise IT information about the elements in the IT environment.
• Troux Collectors—collects IT information from more than 60 types of data sources, on a centrally scheduled, on-demand or event-driven basis.
• Troux Bridges—prepackaged connectors that give existing systems access to data from the Blueprinting System.
• Trout IT Portal—provides information access, distribution and presentation to business and technology users. Integrated with the Troux Blueprinting System, the Web-based Troux IT Portal provides authorized users with access to the IT information and blueprints to support decision making and collaboration between business and IT. The Troux IT Portal includes the following components: • Web presentation engine
• Personalization
• Third-party portlet integration • Authentication/authorization • Troux portlets
• Troux Blueprinting System integration
• Troux Blueprint Manager—secure, Web-based application to perform Blueprint life cycle management functions such as defining or enhancing the blueprint model, reviewing or supplementing collected data, writing data management/classification rules and defining queries. The Troux product uses an open architecture and standards-based technologies, such as Java, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and XML.
In a typical installation, the product lets network managers implement the following steps: • Target the business process to be automated
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
DPRO-118808
5 December 2003 6 • Design planned environment
• Compare planned changes to corporate standards
• Continue comparing technology implementations to business priorities
Pricing
Table 3: Price List: Troux Blueprinting System
Product Troux Blueprinting System
Base Price (US$) 195,000, including 60-user licenses Maximum Price
(US$)
None
Education Discount No
Leasing No
Multicopy Discount Yes Site License No Pricing as of November 2003. GSA Pricing Planned. Competitors • Relicore. Strengths Saves Money
The company claims that clients can achieve breakeven within 12 months and can drive an average 5 percent improvement in the IT budget.
Provides Data
Provides detailed information on the end-to-end technology environment and technology relationships that is important to multiple IT initiatives, including enterprise architecture, change planning, business continuity planning, data center optimization, application portfolio management and information privacy.
Limitations
Snapshot Rather Than Trending
The software pulls usage information from other systems and puts it in its repository, meaning the information is valid only at a particular point in time. The repository logs all changes to facilitate trending over time.
Professional Services Required
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
DPRO-118808
5 December 2003 7
Insight
