May 27, 2003

  • Share this

Covalent Announces Covalent Application Manager

SAN FRANCISCO -- May 27, 2003—Today Covalent Technologies announced the immediate availability of Covalent Application Manager (CAM), the most comprehensive Web application management solution designed specifically for IT Operations. CAM presents one integrated application view by automatically discovering and then correlating multiple components of a Web application. By combining its application model with a comprehensive solution that covers all operational activities, Covalent is moving the management of Web applications beyond the current disjointed server approach to integrated Web application management.

"The days of server management are over," said John M. Jack, chief executive officer at Covalent Technologies. "Our operations customers have told us they're drowning in Web application complexity. Now IT can manage applications, instead of separate technology components. With CAM, our goal is to make Web applications perform to business requirements."

Covalent has unparalleled experience managing complex Web infrastructures for some of the world's largest companies. In fact, Covalent solutions are currently used in 145 of the Fortune 500. Regarded as an operations expert, Covalent delivered the first enterprise-ready version of Apache which fueled Apache's adoption in the enterprise. Covalent has translated this open standards and operations expertise into CAM.

"The scope of IT performance and availability management has expanded to cover distributed applications in their entirety - not just monitoring and managing individual infrastructure components," said Tim Grieser, vice president of Enterprise System Management at IDC. "An application-centric approach such as the one being delivered by Covalent Application Manager will bring sharp focus on managing distributed applications to help achieve improved service levels at lower costs."

An Answer to the Complexity of Web Applications
Web applications are inherently difficult to manage because they consist of interconnected components hosted on multiple servers and platforms. This complexity makes it difficult to understand the logical link between individual components and the applications that those components support. Operations teams need a tool that allows them to manage applications as a whole, not individual servers.

CAM is the first product on the market to combine the full spectrum of operational activities with an application model so users can view and manage applications holistically.

By using CAM and managing applications, instead of servers, IT groups can:

  • improve service levels by quickly navigating through the components of an application to alleviate application problems;
  • increase utilization of the Web infrastructure - now that IT ops has one integrated tool they can quickly measure and optimize utilization of their Web infrastructure in an application context; and
  • report service levels accurately. Instead of manually creating reports from the various point tools that make up their management infrastructure, with CAM IT can measure and report service levels for an entire application.

    • Examples of server versus application management: Today's Server Management: over 25 hours on average to solve a Web application problem due to the disjointed server management Covalent's Web Application Management: under one hour, on average, to resolve an application problem, since IT can quickly navigate through the different layers of an application to pinpoint problems
    Today's Server Management: low resource utilization rates since IT has no visibility into Web infrastructure and how it relates to the Web applications it supports Covalent's Web Application Management: ability to optimize resources since IT now has total visibility into infrastructure utilization levels and the applications it supports

    Today's Server Management: service level reports can be generated on Web or application servers but not on the entire application Covalent's Web Application Management: reports can be generated on an entire application, satisfying business unit requirements

    Delivers One Integrated Solution

    CAM combines all the core operational activities involved in managing Web applications, enabling IT operations to:

    Map applications and supporting resources
    Before you can effectively manage Web applications, you must first have visibility into your infrastructure. CAM automatically discovers all application components, down to custom code such as EJBs. The detailed information discovered by CAM is then used by IT to actively manage inventory.
    Measure application service levels and resolve problems quickly
    With CAM, IT operations can measure application service levels as well as monitor specific components in real-time. Through CAM's Measure functionality, they can also perform rapid root cause analysis.
    Control applications to resolve problems
    Once a problem is identified, rapid response is imperative. CAM Control provides the capability to respond to application or resource issues through its Global Command and Control Center.
    Analyze application data for reporting, forecasting and planning
    The first step in conducting analysis is collecting all key application metrics. This data is stored in the CAM Centralized Repository and accessible through a customizable portal. Through CAM Analysis, users can report service levels and exceptions to business units and development, perform trend and historical analysis and plan for future capacity requirements.

    Based on Open Standards

    Open standard technologies are central in every aspect of the Covalent Application Manager, including the CAM Server, CAM Portal, Agent / Plug-in architecture and the Plug-in Development Kit (PDK). Based on Covalent's deep experience with open standards in Apache and other technologies, this design approach ensures that Covalent customers can derive the greatest number of integration and security benefits from the relevant open standards. CAM provides rich, built-in support for the J2EE and J2SE software stacks. Complementary solutions can leverage CAM's functionality by exposing management data via a SNMP or JMX agent. It also supports the ability to send alerts to or receive data from existing management frameworks or other software. Supporting a Wide Variety of Resources CAM covers one of the broadest range of Web infrastructure components in the industry, including BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, JBoss, JRun and the Tomcat application server. It also manages Web servers including Apache, SunOne, and Microsoft IIS; database servers from Oracle and Sybase; and platforms including Linux, HPUX, Solaris and Windows. Further information on specific resources can be found at www.covalent.net.

    Unlike management frameworks that have proven costly and cumbersome to implement, CAM can be configured and up and running in minutes, delivering value immediately. Covalent Application Manager is available today from Covalent's sales force by contacting 800-444-1935. CAM runs on Linux, Solaris and Windows.

    About Covalent

    Covalent Technologies is a leader in Web application management. Currently in use by the world's largest IT Operations groups, Covalent products manage many of the world's largest Web infrastructures, including many Fortune 100 companies. Founders of Covalent helped develop the Apache Web server - the most widely used Web server in the world. Based in San Francisco, Covalent has a proven track record of solving complex Web application problems. More information about the company can be found at www.covalent.net.