For mid-market firms, being able to monitor storage networks is all well and good. But wouldn't it be nice to extend that management out over the LAN to better coordinate data flow to the server farm or even to desktops?

That's what Hitachi is thinking with the release of a new set of management systems under its Services Oriented Storage Solutions program. The combo consists of IT Operations Analyzer, the Virtual Server Reporter, based on technology from Aptare, and the Storage Command Portal.

IT Operations Analyzer appears to be the heart of the system, extending management functions across IP networks, Fibre Channel SANs and the LAN to provide a broader view of heterogeneous server environments, network components and storage assets. The package provides root cause analysis, network visualization and other tools through an agentless architecture using a web-based interface.

Virtual Server Reporter is designed to provide an end-to-end view of VMware server environments and their related storage resources. The system extends visibility directly to individual virtual machines so as to improve management of storage and backup operations.

The Storage Command Portal, which operates under the Storage Command Suite, is designed to align storage assets with their associated applications. By providing an application-centric view of storage, the system aims to manage service level objectives (SLOs) for improved capacity utilization and performance.

A free trial download of IT Operations Manager is available here.