IBM Buys Mainframe App Manager

How far has IBM strayed from its mainframe roots? Today (June 16) it bought a company in order to get the tools and expertise it needs to manage mainframe applications. (for more, read "IBM Acquiring Isogon To Bolster Mainframe Apps-Management Lineup"

IBM acquired Isogon Corp., a privately held company that makes mainframe and Unix software asset management tools, for an undisclosed sum. Isogon's software will be integrated into IBM's Tivoli line of enterprise management products, where IBM's old line of NetView mainframe applications management tools has largely been left to rust.

Tivoli has been so involved with broad enterprise management strategies in recent years that it now needs help to do simple mainframe processes such as software asset management and inventory. While many would argue that this is as it should be -- since the mainframe is being phased out in most companies -- it seems ashame that the company that essentially invented network management (with the introduction of NetView in 1986) should now have to go out and spend money buy the expertise to perform mainframe application management, which is still a critical function in many large companies.

Companies should change and evolve, but they should never change so much that they completely lose their roots. Maybe the addition of Isogon will bring IBM back, and help it remember its former leadership role in the network and systems management space.