HP Cloud Service Automation Software
Encyclopedia
HP Cloud Service Automation is a solution composed of automation software tools for use by companies and government agencies to deploy and manage cloud computing
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....
applications. The solution simplifies and automates the deployment of database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s, middleware
Middleware
Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
and packaged applications and enables composite application
Composite application
In computing, the term composite application expresses a perspective of software engineering that defines an application built by combining multiple existing functions into a new application. The technical concept can be compared to mashups...
provisioning
Provisioning
In telecommunication, provisioning is the process of preparing and equipping a network to allow it to provide services to its users. In NS/EP telecommunications services, "provisioning" equates to "initiation" and includes altering the state of an existing priority service or capability.In a...
and monitoring in heterogeneous and extensible cloud computing
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....
environments. The software is part of a broad portfolio of cloud computing
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....
products, services and solutions offered by HP Software Division as part of its HP IT Management Software
HP IT Management Software
HP IT Management Software is a family of Enterprise software products sold by the HP Software Division of information technology company Hewlett-Packard...
family of products. Cloud Service Automation was developed by HP and enhanced by HP’s acquisition of Stratavia
Stratavia
Stratavia, formerly known as ExtraQuest, was a software company that specialized in enterprise Database and Data Center Automation, and private cloud computing enablement...
in Aug. 2010.
Background on Cloud Computing and Automation
According to the National Institute of Standards and TechnologyNational Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...
, Information Technology Laboratory, “Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”
Many organizations are adopting cloud computing because it allows them to access applications, resources and services over the Internet on an “as-needed” or “per usage” basis. This has some cost and agility advantages for the IT department. According to a January 2011 Unisys
Unisys
Unisys Corporation , headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States, and incorporated in Delaware, is a long established business whose core products now involves computing and networking.-History:...
poll, nearly half of U.S. companies consider cloud computing as the top IT priority.
While cloud computing can save IT departments money and increase flexibility, it does present some challenges. These challenges include extra effort and increased difficulty for the IT department because of the complexity associated with the deployment and ongoing management of cloud infrastructure and applications. Automation and proper management are important when IT departments deploy cloud computing services because of these challenges.
What HP Cloud Service Automation Does
HP Cloud Service Automation allows IT departments to move and manage applications among in-house (private) cloud systems, external (public) clouds and traditional IT systems. HP Cloud Service Automation software is also designed to deliver unified security, governance and compliance across applications, as well as physical and virtual infrastructures. The software automates key IT processes so that there is one consistent approach to IT resource management.HP Cloud Service Automation also allows IT departments to dynamically monitor and provision server, storage and network elements as well as applications to meet the needs of current and upcoming workloads. In addition, the solution allows IT to automatically grow and shrink the allocated resources in order to meet quality of service targets.