CA’s Swainson Maintains that Technology is Key to Weathering Economic Downturn

John Swainson, chief executive officer of CA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CA), today told attendees at CA World that at no time in recent history has technology been in a better position to be a key driver of business growth, success and, in some cases, survival.

"Organizations around the world are striving to cut costs and become more efficient and the current economic uncertainty has intensified the pressure to do more with less,” Swainson said. "At the same time, companies seek a competitive edge to ensure that they not only survive the current economic downturn, but emerge from it strong and thriving. Many companies look to IT to provide that competitive edge.”

The key, Swainson offered, is the ability for companies to maximize the benefits of a vast array of technologies already in their IT infrastructures, while dealing with numerous technology advances now entering the environment, including virtualization, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cloud computing and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

"Every one of these improvements presents a new challenge for governance, management and security, which continue to be requisite elements for guaranteeing services levels and ensuring that IT investments are optimized,” Swainson said. CA, with its leading IT management, governance and security solutions, is dedicated to helping customers "not only survive, but thrive in today’s marketplace.” he said. "We can help companies stay competitive and emerge stronger and well positioned to take advantage of the inevitable recovery in global markets.”

More than 5,000 IT professionals from around the globe are attending CA World to get insights into what is happening in the IT management space and how to best leverage CA software to maximize their organization's IT capabilities. The user conference, starting today and ending Nov. 20, also will showcase a number of new CA solution offerings supporting CA’s Enterprise IT Management vision in the areas of Security Management, Service Management, Infrastructure Management, SaaS, Governance, Emerging Technologies and Mainframe Management.

Management is the "Killer App” for Virtualization

In his address, which included a "Virtual John” in a "Second Life” segment, Swainson pointed to the many IT advances that are providing significant customer benefits, but also adding complexity and cost to an already complicated IT environment. Such advances as virtualization, SaaS, SOA, cloud computing and faster and more ubiquitous networks, improve and enhance the IT environment, but also add layers that need to be governed, managed and secured.

In specifically talking about virtualization, Swainson said it "promises myriad benefits—from reduced costs, improved service quality and increased agility, to a smaller carbon footprint and reduced business risk—all acute concerns for business today. With a sound virtualization strategy and effective virtualization management, an organization should be able to transform IT management and provide dramatic business benefits—a compelling attraction in today’s challenging economic conditions.

"Management is the killer app for virtualization,” Swainson said. "Management is the technology that will allow virtualization to achieve its full potential—to deliver all the benefits being talked about.”

Swainson pointed to recent releases of two virtualization management solutions— CA Advanced Systems Management and CA Data Center Automation Manager—as evidence of CA’s strong support of virtualization technology. CA Advanced Systems Management enables the management of several different virtualization technologies from many different vendors, while CA Data Center Automation Manager is a breakthrough solution for comprehensively managing the provisioning of both physical and virtualized data center resources and systems.

"CA’s approach to virtualization is all about managing risk and ensuring service quality, so companies can drive real value from virtualization,” he said. "Our technology discovers application dependencies and relationships so IT professionals know which virtual and physical resources are supporting critical business processes and can manage them accordingly.”

Enterprise IT Management (EITM)

Swainson pointed to CA’s three-year-old EITM vision as the cornerstone of the Company’s coordinated efforts to enable organizations to drive business value from IT.

"We introduced EITM in November of 2005 and it has always fundamentally been about transforming the way the world manages IT,” Swainson said. "For the past three years, we’ve been refining it and delivering on the vision with enhancements to our leading solutions and new solutions that meet evolving IT needs. CA, through its EITM vision, can help IT departments be more responsive to business requirements, improve service, lower IT costs, manage business risk, ensure compliance and better align IT investments with business priorities.”

Swainson pointed to a white paper by IDC that showed that eight companies surveyed reported an average 433 percent return on investment with EITM*. The white paper, sponsored by CA, found that the companies experienced payback of their initial investment in less than one year.

Announcements at CA World

The Company plans to make the following announcements over the course of the five-day conference:

• Mainframe 2.0 – The initiative directly addresses the critical issue of an aging mainframe workforce by radically simplifying mainframe ownership—enabling customers to successfully leverage the unique advantages of the platform even as they continue to experience staffing shortages in the coming years.
• SaaS – CA will announce three new SaaS offerings across its Enterprise IT Management and Governance portfolio including CA Clarity PPM On Demand; CA Governance, Risk and Compliance Manager On Demand; and CA Instant Recovery On Demand. The offerings are designed to help customers rapidly and cost-effectively maximize the business value of their software implementations.
• Security – CA will unveil a new Federation product, an update to its SOA security product and an integrated solution for Secure Web Business Enablement (SWBE) that will expand and improve an organization's business operations by enhancing the reach, quality, and security of its online relationships with customers, partners and employees.
• Service Management – CA will announce software enhancements, integrations, and services to help organizations realize faster time-to-value in their IT service management initiatives at a lower total cost of ownership.
• CA Clarity – The newest version of CA Clarity PPM will provide several new features that help IT better align itself with the business.
• EITM Business Services Integrations – As part of its Enterprise IT Management initiative, CA has developed two business service integrations—Identity and Access Management as an Automated Service, and Manage Infrastructure as an IT Service—designed to meet customers’ most pressing needs while speeding time-to-value.
• Virtualization and Cloud Computing – Building on the Oct. 7, 2008 launch of CA Data Center Automation Manager, CA will announce a solution that meets cloud computing’s growing management demands. The company will also announce a comprehensive, integrated suite of EITM solutions designed to maximize the business value of virtualization.

* IDC White Paper sponsored by CA, "Improving IT Economics and Gaining Business Value with CA’s Enterprise IT Management Software: An ROI Study,” Doc # 214817, November 2008

About CA

CA (NASDAQ: CA) is the world's leading independent IT management software company. With CA's Enterprise IT Management (EITM) vision and expertise, organizations can more effectively govern, manage and secure IT to optimize business performance and sustain competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.ca.com.

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