UC4 Software, a leading provider of workload automation solutions, on Tuesday announced the general availability of the latest version of its enterprise job scheduling and end-to-end IT process automation solution. With UC4 Workload Automation Suite 8.0, UC4 introduces major new functionality that enables organizations to automate and simply control processes that span applications and systems running in both virtual and physical worlds.
Supporting a comprehensive range of operating systems and business applications, UC4 Workload Automation Suite is a unified IT process automation solution that allows organizations to migrate workloads off legacy job schedulers. Needing to address the near real-time processing demands generated in a 24x7 global market place, many enterprises rely on UC4 to automate the execution of critical back-end processes that drive business operations.
The 8.0 release is the first major release since UC4 and AppWorx merged two years ago, notes Marc Carkeek, vice president of development and support for the Americas at UC4. "To that end, we have started actually making shared components between the two and utilizing the advantages that both sides bring to the Workload Automation Suite."
The release integrates feedback from a usability study. "We had a lot of input from one of our partners, Ergosign, and also Harvard University," states Carkeek, "and then we used that information to actually put a number of improvements into the 8.0 design." As a result, UC4 introduces a new look-and-feel that enhances usability, including Gantt views for process flows. Additionally, a new graphical workload analyzer tool provides a comprehensive view of end-to-end process automations, including critical path and predictive analysis capabilities. By analyzing the past, as well as monitoring the present and predicting the future, enterprises can optimize process flows, reduce overall runtime and keep within IT service level objectives.
The introduction of Rapid Automation (RA) offers design tools and a run-time environment for easy integration of packaged and custom applications as well as IT infrastructure components with UC4 Workload Automation Suite. RA establishes a seamless, non-invasive interface layer between external systems and UC4, utilizing agent technology to manage scheduling and execution of workload. Out-of-the-box RA solutions for FTP/sFTP, VMware and SunGard Banner are available with the launch of Version 8.0. A key focus with RA is to take advantage of, and be poised to take advantage of, new technologies that are emerging, states Carkeek.
Other enhancements in the 8.0 release include the introduction of native 64-bit support for selected modules and extended data encryption and authentication for secure communication. Visit here for more details.