Asset controls to bolster Tivoli
Network and IT Service management suite to acquire expanded asset management features.
IBM plans to spend $740m to acquire asset management specialist MRO Software, to plug gaps in the Tivoli IT service management (ITSM) suite and extend its offerings to manage a wider ranger of assets, not just IT assets.
Norman Wilkinson, service management leader for IBM Tivoli in the UK, Ireland and South Africa, said that alongside an asset management toolset, MRO would provide IBM with a service desk suite. “We’ve seen some criticism from analysts over [IBM not having major service desk capabilities] and this deal really fills that gap,” he added.
There will be few integration problems once the deal closes in the fourth quarter, as both companies have worked as partners and integration between MRO’s service desk and Tivoli’s change and configuration management database is well advanced, said Wilkinson.
However, analysts warned that while the deal will fulfil Tivoli’s long-standing need for service desk functionality, MRO’s asset management capabilities might take IBM into conflict with application partners such as SAP and might violate its pledge to focus on IT infrastructure rather than business apps.
Mary Johnston Turner of analyst Ovum said the acquisition of MRO is likely to lead to a major extension of the Tivoli portfolio. “What IBM appears to be saying is that all assets, be they IT, supply chain assets or office furniture, will have electronic tags and will need to be managed from a unified asset management system,” she commented. “It is a long-term play but it could massively extend the reach of Tivoli. The issue is: can IBM convince its partners that asset management is part of the infrastructure and not an application?”
A research note from AMR Research agreed IBM is in danger of alienating partners, and said “the fact remains that MRO Software is first and foremost an EAM [enterprise asset management] application software vendor that actively competes with SAP and Oracle”.
Separately, Wilkinson said that following its recent acquisition of Micromuse, IBM is on track to deliver a fully integrated business service management (BSM) suite around the end of the year, featuring a “souped-up” user interface and improved service-level agreement (SLA) management tools.