IBM launches cloud-based system monitoring service

IBM has announced it is going live with an on-demand system monitoring service aimed at medium-sized firms.

The Tivoli Live Monitoring Service is designed too monitor up to 500 resources such as operating systems, applications and devices on the network. Should an outage or bottleneck occur, the IT manager is alerted to the problem via a management console.

In some cases the software also has the capability to "self-heal" by sorting out problems automatically.

"With digital information as the lifeblood of more organisations, even the smallest companies or divisions consider the datacentre's functionality mission-critical," said Al Zollar, general manager of IBM Tivoli.

"With this new service, IBM is delivering its smartest datacentre software in which businesses choose and pay for what they need. It's so easy that we expect most companies can sign up for it on Monday and have it running by Friday. The simplicity is an attractive addition to our service management portfolio," he added.

There are two service types. Companies can choose a "touchless" option for monitoring devices and operating systems (Windows, Linux, AIX, Solaris, HP-UX) using an agent-less Tivoli Monitoring 6.2.1. at US$44 per month per node; or they can go for an agent-based OS and application monitoring option costing US$58 per month per node.

The service has a US$6,500 set-up fee, with contracts available from 90 days to three years. More Tivoli on-demand services are expected next year.