Developed by a branch of the British Government in the late 1980s in response to the growing dependence on information technology, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is the only comprehensive, non-proprietary documentation available for the planning, provisioning and support of IT services.

ITIL provides a set of best practice recommendations on how to deliver IT services more efficiently and effectively through improved management processes across the IT organization that support networks, systems, applications and databases. The framework provides high-level guidance on how to best align the IT organization with overall business objectives and drive IT operational improvements.

Aperture solutions support the ITIL standards and definitions for service management and its frameworks for structuring the IT organization. Aperture VISTA provides an integrated solution to manage and automate configuration management and change management processes, as they relate to the data center (physical) infrastructure identified by ITIL.

Aperture VISTA contains a central, visual repository of all data center infrastructure information. The visual repository aggregates configuration information on all data center equipment in a hierarchy of scaled drawings, including device location, power and cooling infrastructure, network and storage connectivity and asset, application and customer information. In addition, Aperture VISTA maintains the relationships between these assets from the physical, logical and spatial perspectives down to the detail of individual port and power connectivity. As changes are planned and made, Aperture VISTA tracks the status of the changes and updates the repository as part of the process. The Aperture VISTA configuration repository is the system of record for this data center information and integrates into a federated model of a configuration management database (CMDB).

Aperture VISTA includes web-based process management to automate the equipment installation, move, change and decommission processes within the data center. Its seamless integration with the visual repository provides fast access to the required information to reduce risks associated with changes and improve operational efficiency as specified by ITIL. Organizations can achieve best practice processes by efficiently coordinating the work across data center groups, improving communications with customers and analyzing performance history. Aperture VISTA's infrastructure change process can be seamlessly integrated into Enterprise Change Management systems.

Aperture VISTA provides a standardized and repeatable process to capture and communicate changes within the data center. It increases operational efficiency through the coordination of the tasks required to provision and manage change of equipment, while providing constant, up-to-date status. Complete specifications of the requested devices are entered through intuitive Web forms that are automatically routed to the specified individuals required to complete the task.

Aperture VISTA provides a disciplined engineering process to ensure every change made to the data center is documented and performed according to specification, minimizing the possibility of future outages due to errors. Aperture VISTA enables engineers to detail how each device must be configured and connected for the specific request based on the business (customer) requirements.

Organizations are continually turning to ITIL for guidance in aligning the IT infrastructure with business objectives and driving operational improvements to deliver IT value. Aperture VISTA directly supports the ITIL standards and definitions for Service Management and its frameworks for structuring the IT organization. Aperture VISTA provides an integrated solution to manage and automate critical Service Support disciplines identified by ITIL, including configuration management and change management. For more information on Aperture VISTA, click here.