CA Keeps Cloud Computing Momentum Going With Automation Suite Additions

The three offerings, CA Configuration Automation r12, CA Process Automation r3 and CA Server Automation r12 are now generally available and, according to the Islandia, N.Y.-based company can quicken the move to a virtualized, dynamic cloud computing infrastructure while cutting customs and improving service delivery. CA originally launched the Automation Suite in October.

For the last 18 months, CA has been bulking up its presence in the cloud computing market. In 2010, CA made a host of key acquisitions bringing its cloud computing spending to above $1 billion. The company has also plotted an action plans for the channel and MSPs to leverage the cloud. CA's Cloud Computing Director Adam Famularo has said that CA plans to keep its cloud computing momentum going through 2011.

With the new releases, CA adds new levels of automation to its cloud portfolio.

CA Configuration Automation r12 is a business service automation play that helps standardize IT services, reduce downtime and increase compliance with regulatory and security policies. It offers applications and system discovery and dependency mapping, and configuration monitoring and remediation across applications and distributed physical and virtual services. It can be used either as an agent or agent-less for configuration tracking and auditing and more than 1,000 application, service, compliance and system templates and policies.

CA Process Automation r3 offers documentation, automation and orchestration of a range of processes across platforms, applications and IT groups. With a graphical designer interface, visual exception handling and more than 50 third-party pre-built data connectors and QuickStarts for platforms like Amazon Web Services and VMware vSphere, CA Process Automation offers context to tasks being automated.

And CA Server Automation r12 is an infrastructure automation tool that can provision, path and deploy apps and services on physical and virtual systems based on standard templates and key performance metrics. New capabilities include support for new hypervisors, including Microsoft Hyper-V and support for Cisco's Unified Computing System (UCS).

CA said the CA Automation Suite offerings are available separately or as part of a pre-integrated solution designed for use cases. For example, CA Automation Suite for Hybrid Clouds is for companies looking to build an internal private cloud or using public cloud as part of their data centers; CA Automation Suite for Cisco UCS scales out Cisco UCS adds configuration and provisioning support to UCS deployments; and CA Automation Suite for Data Centers, which for companies looking to manage integrated physical and virtual infrastructures with plans to make the move to cloud computing.