London, May 12, 2009 - ASG Software Solutions, the originator of ASG's Business Service Portfolio™ (BSP™) and a worldwide leader in business solutions for global enterprises, today announced that its "Path to Optimisation" programme has gained significant endorsement from industry analysts and momentum from large enterprises around the world. ASG's unique approach is designed to help IT executives leverage their current IT investments, complemented by ASG's BSP solutions and best practices, to progress towards improved IT service delivery and proactive Business Service Management (BSM).

The Path to Optimisation has been acknowledged by leading industry analysts as the only step-by-step programme on the market that is packaged and priced to truly help organisations survive today and thrive tomorrow. ASG's approach guides IT teams in operating at higher quality service levels as their IT environments become more sophisticated, using metadata to untangle the complex relationships within their technological terrain. In the short time ASG has made its pragmatic, level-based solutions available, the company has realised significant customer success and continues to build market momentum.

ASG created the Path to Optimisation based on real-life deployments by its global customer base, which includes 85 percent of the world's largest companies. The programme consists of four definitive stages, each of which prescribes an achievable, gradual step in cost and technology to move enterprises closer to the realisation of IT service optimisation and full BSM.

ASG introduced its Path to Optimisation earlier this year through its Executive Business Seminars led by Arthur Allen, President and CEO of ASG Software Solutions. Taking place worldwide, these complimentary, interactive sessions included a top-level discussion of the key technologies and methodologies needed for IT to overcome difficulties and consistently achieve quality service

ASG is particularly well-qualified to introduce this progressive IT service delivery strategy to the marketplace because of its strong position in the metadata management market. Because it provides detailed infrastructure data definition, information about the associations between business services and infrastructure, and information about broader business issues (such as compliance and governance requirements), metadata provides the foundational insight necessary for IT organisations to wisely manage their resources and master each advancing step in their pursuit of BSM and IT best practices.

A senior analyst from an independent global IT and business consulting firm commented, "This is exactly what the market needs. Large-scale initiatives like ITIL® and BSM are daunting undertakings for any company. The ability to break down the implementation into a clear progression really distinguishes ASG from the competition."

"This [Path to Optimisation] is very exciting. It's a great place to start-a ‘beginning' CMDB System. Others are placing too much emphasis on a single CMDB repository rather than as a system of related technologies that needs to evolve in phases in concert with organisational maturity and process awareness," said Dennis Drogseth, Vice President of Research, IT Megatrends, Analytics and CMDB Systems, Enterprise Management Associates.

The Path to Optimisation allows organisations to address any technology gaps--critical places where existing tools don't connect or capabilities fall short--to move closer to fully optimised IT service management.

ASG's BSP solutions work with any technological platform, connecting technology silos to provide a broad, unified view of the IT landscape. Using this wider operational lens, organisations can grow to manage performance and availability from end to end, proactively addressing emerging problems before they impact business services in addition to managing assets, improving business users' experience, and protecting the business's bottom line.

ASG offers a specific Path to Optimisation that prescribes the steps to IT service excellence for each of ASG's major solution areas, including Metadata Management, Infastructure Management, Operations Management, Performance Management, Service Support, Information Management, and Applications Management. From an overarching perspective, the programme offers solutions at four levels:

• Level 1 Solutions (point products) - Reactive, domain-based point solutions that use technology focused on specific tasks to improve operations within an IT domain.
• Level 2 Solutions (adds dashboard and data consolidation technology) - Normalised IT serviced-based solutions that aggregate data and present key metrics from diverse technologies to assess the health of IT services through the use of dashboards.
• Level 3 Solutions (adds ASG's metaCMDB™ solution and federation) - Managed IT service and business service-based solutions that understand and manage the complex relationships of IT assets to determine the impact on business services through the use of ITIL® v2 with a configuration management database (CMDB).
• Level 4 Solutions (adds ASG's metaCMDB and federation with other CMDBs) - Optimised, proactive BSM solutions that enable service optimisation via predictive analysis, automation, and broad federation to multiple CMDBs that drive the success of business outcomes through the use of ITIL v3 and a configuration management system (CMS).

For more information about ASG's Path to Optimisation and its corresponding solutions, visit www.asg.com/go/path.

About ASG | www.asg.com
ASG provides software solutions to more than 85 percent of the world's largest companies. Through its comprehensive Business Service Management (BSM) solution, Business Service Portfolio™, ASG is an established BSM provider with a strong heritage in information management; applications management; infrastructure, performance, and operations management; and service and support technologies. ASG enables clients to reduce costs, improve business-service delivery, and reduce risks. Founded in 1986, ASG is a privately held company based in Naples, Florida, USA, with more than 90 offices worldwide.

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