IT process automation software specialist Opalis has announced a major upgrade to its flagship suite designed to improve its usability and extend its support for heterogeneous IT environments.

Opalis Integration Server aims to provide policy-based automation, or run book automation as it is also known, which automates many IT tasks allowing firms to reduce IT support costs and enhance availability.

"The IT management market is mature in monitoring events, but then you often need manual intervention to remediate any problems," said Opalis CEO Todd DeLaughter. "Our sweet spot is to automate that remediation based on policies that can be installed out the box or customised."

He added that this meant firms could set up a policy that will automatically transfer work over to a new virtual machine, for example, when monitoring software notifies the suite that a server is approaching capacity.

Version 5.3 introduces 90 new pre-built process templates designed to enhance the usability of the system. "In many instances customers want to be told what to do," said DeLaughter. "You give them a platform with flexibility and they'll often ask how to configure it – this gives the 90 out-the-box templates covering everything from system backup and moving files to complex change management workflows."

Separately the new suite also features an updated dashboard featuring enhanced visibility over automated IT operation and five new integration packs designed to provide tighter links with BMC's Atrium and Remedy Solutions, Microsoft SCOM and Active Directory, and VMware VirtualCenter 2.