Seeing the Logic of Centralized Application Management - Software Development Times On The Web

Seeing the Logic of Centralized Application Management
OpenLogic Enterprise 4 graduates from the desktop to the server, adds companywide auditing
By Edward J. Correia

July 15, 2006 — With the latest release of its namesake tool for managing software use, OpenLogic now gives organizations the ability to track and audit open-source software installations across the enterprise.

OpenLogic Enterprise 4.0, which began shipping on June 26, also adds 18 products—including Java LDAP and Apache’s Axis, Geronimo and POI projects—to its library of certified and supported packages, which now lists more than 160.

According to Stormy Peters, OpenLogic’s director of product management, with prior versions of the software, installation packages resided on a single machine, usually a developer’s workstation. “[Organizations] could control what developers got, but didn’t have a repository that they could audit from a central point,” she said.

“Libraries are now maintained on a server,” she continued. “This gives IT people the ability to install and keep an audit trail. They get more management control over what goes out to the enterprise, and they can track what’s been installed where.”

Version 4 also provides enterprise control of what’s in the library and what’s being installed. OpenLogic stacks can contain a mixture of open-source and proprietary components. When updates to a company’s maintained open-source packages occur, its central server is made aware and automatically downloads the latest version.

Double Duty
When updates to user workstations are required, version 4 now permits the installation of multiple versions of the same software to be installed on the target machine. This helps users to compare old and new versions or migrate data to a new release without first removing an old one.

“Even though many of our largest enterprise customers have continued to increase their use of open-source software, they have also been telling us that controlling the use of hundreds of open-source solutions is a time- and labor-intensive process,” said OpenLogic CEO Steven Grandchamp, in a statement that accompanied the release.

For companies making the move to version 4, Peters said OpenLogic will come to the customer site and install and configure the central server (on Linux or Windows). Customers may install their own open-source, proprietary or commercial software packages. Pricing, which is unchanged from prior versions, varies based on the number of users and packages. A typical enterprise installation can cost US$100,000 or more. The upgrade is free to current subscribers.

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