Working towards interoperability

Symantec has announced the Open Collaborative Architecture and a third-party developer program to establish greater interoperability with Symantec solutions and provide users, partners and independent software vendors with the ability to integrate their applications with the Symantec Management Platform (formerly the Altiris Platform).

The architecture is an open, standards-based set of guidelines and technologies that enables collaboration across the company’s product portfolio and third-party solutions. The architecture allows users to maximise their investments through easy management of the infrastructure with greater confidence, efficiency and control across more platforms.

It prescribes an evolutionary approach to interoperability and solution building. Using standard web services, web-based security, workflow management and configuration management technologies, the architecture provides users with greater flexibility to build complex, multi-disciplinary solutions that can be tailored to specific business needs.

Dell is working to standardise its systems management offerings for all its enterprise class machines on the management platform by early 2009.

Dell’s adoption of the platform as the foundation for its flagship enterprise management console further substantiates the value of the architecture and its value to the companies’ joint customers.

Both companies are building a roadmap to use the platform in Dell systems such as Dell PowerEdge servers and blades, Latitude laptops, precision workstations and OptiPlex desktops.