Systemwalker Feature Story

Responding Flexibly to Business Needs in the Broadband Era

An integrated operations management system that can easily accommodate change
The new age of broadband communications has seen great changes in the demands placed on operations management.
"Systemwalker Version 10", the latest version of Fujitsu's integrated operations management system, was developed in response to these needs. In addition to meeting the operations management requirements of broadband, it can also accommodate change by providing services found nowhere else in the industry, such as the ability to provide operations management know-how via the Internet. I asked Mr. Keiji Suzuki, General Manager of the Enterprise Management Products Division of Fujitsu's Software Group, about the enhancements and features of the new version.

2001 was a year in which the environment surrounding corporations experienced remarkable change and the key word was "broadband".

According to Mr. Suzuki, "One can identify three areas of major change."

The first is the rapid spread of high-speed, high-volume broadband Internet, which has induced companies to connect to IP networks. At the end of 2001, the number of xDSL users in Japan exceeded 1.5 million. We are seeing the creation of a huge and seamless IP network that encompasses the company, the home and everything in between.

The second area of major change is the development of the "e-Japan" concept. The Japanese Government has signaled that it plans to convert all official documents to electronic form by 2002 and that by 2003 it will be possible to conduct all applications electronically. Business and government are also becoming linked on IP networks.

The third area of change is the marked increase in concentrated investment and selective investment. Many Japanese companies are shifting towards concentrating investment in core competence, while outsourcing other areas. The spread of broadband has made using various Application Service Provider (ASP) services even easier, which has accelerated this trend.

"The business environment paradigm is changing as a result of this new buzzword 'broadband', so one can say that a paradigm shift is also required of operations management, which supports the business environment," stressed Mr. Suzuki.

A feature of broadband is that it allows a variety of systems to link up in complex ways using the Internet environment, both directly and indirectly. As a result, operations management in the age of broadband must be able to provide an "expanded range of management" that can reliably manage systems that span multiple corporations.

Up until now, integrated operations management systems have catered for a range of areas, from platform management of servers, etc., through to application management from the perspective of business. In future it will be necessary to expand the range of coverage even more to provide integrated management of Storage Area Networks (SANs) constructed separately from Local Area Networks (LANs) and to support broadband technologies.

Supported system types will also expand dramatically. A major objective of earlier integrated operations management systems was the integrated management of the diverse systems existing within companies. In the age of broadband, however, one must not only deal with corporate groups, but also cope with the inter-corporate communications associated with B2B business and linkage to electronic government (B2G). Furthermore, as the roles of Internet Data Centers (IDCs) and the various ASPs become more important, there will be a growing need for functions that support these types of outsourcing businesses.

Furthermore, these factors do not occur in isolation, but in complex combinations.

Mr. Suzuki cites an example. "A certain company in the chemical industry is outsourcing all ERP (see note below)-related work to an IDC." The IDC constructs a SAN and manages the data centrally. The operations management staff of the IDC notify users of any problems that occur and provide reports on operating conditions. These users perform operations management of existing systems, such as internal Supply Chain Management (SCM), and centrally manage the ERP-related operation information provided by the outsourcer. "A business model of this kind cannot operate smoothly unless integrated support is provided for the SAN management in the outsourcing center, the ERP monitoring and the operations management performed by users," added Mr. Suzuki.

Another important point that cannot be overlooked is the importance of forms in providing support for electronic government.

Electronic government aims to convert all forms to an electronic format and to deliver these forms electronically. Therefore, it is expected that the number of electronic transactions using forms in XML format will increase dramatically not only among companies participating directly in electronic supply, but also among companies not directly involved. New requirements include the ability to accurately manage electronic forms and to address security issues to prevent their alteration or falsification.

Note:
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

Systemwalker Version 10 - the latest version of Fujitsu's Systemwalker integrated operations management system - was released in 2001 to respond to the paradigm shift in operations management brought about by broadband.

"Systemwalker version 10 provides both an expanded range of coverage and support for more system types. It greatly broadens the worldview of the earlier Systemwalker V5 and truly deserves to be seen as an integrated operations management offering for the age of broadband," asserted Mr. Suzuki.

Systemwalker version 10 features three main functional improvements.

First, it provides full support for the new IT systems represented by broadband.

In other words, it achieves integrated management of an expanded range of support and system types to make it possible to perform integrated Service Level Management (SLM) of not only in-house business but also of business that spans corporations. Enhanced support is also provided for SAN management and multi-platform operation. It provides a powerful solution for the resource gathering requirements of today's corporations.

Second, it has become an operations management system that includes e-Japan in its field of vision. In concrete terms, this means that it completely supported B2B and B2G environments, as well as strengthened security management and improved the reliability of electronic transactions with electronic government at their core.

Third, it supports a variety of broadband technologies. It not only supports broadband and the Internet, but also provides improved operability for other integrated broadband environments such as communication satellites.

Important aspects of the first enhancement - support for new IT systems - include the creation of integrated SLM, the completeness of SAN management and support for multi-platforms resulting from an expansion of partner businesses.

In the area of integrated SLM, it has been made possible to achieve operations management of business that spans different corporations across firewalls. Products that conform to the standards of OSMIC, an industry group whose aims are the linkage and standardization of operations management systems, will be able to link up with the operations management products of other vendors and report problems to each other. It will also be possible to integrate end user response data in the head office and perform integrated management of B2B business conditions without the need to change firewall security policies.

In the area of integrated SAN management, a product "Systemwalker StorageMGR" is available to perform storage management of SANs. This product performs centralized management of multi-vendor storage using an integrated user interface. It will not only be useful for companies installing SANs, but also for IDCs and Storage Service Providers (SSPs).

The second enhancement - support for e-Japan - focuses on B2B/B2G environment support and security.

The security of all businesses is guaranteed. Systemwalker performs integrated management of server and middleware authentication information.

With regard to the third enhancement - support for broadband technologies - multi-point, high-volume resource distribution can now be performed more efficiently. Support is also provided for distributing resources to Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) running Palm or Windows CE. Another innovation is that it is both compatible with the new IPv6 protocol, as well as being able to integrate with and perform centralized management of existing IPv4 environments.

"Systemwalker version 10 encompasses all the functions suitable for the broadband era. It is an essential infrastructure product for conducting business smoothly in the age of broadband," declared Mr. Suzuki with confidence.