LONDON -- BT today announced new services to assure the performance of customers'core enterprise applications over their entire global infrastructure.Called BT Applications Assured Infrastructure, this major new initiative isdesigned to enable organisations to understand and master the complexinteractions that occur within their infrastructure - from desktop to datacentre. As a result, it will become possible to guarantee that theperformance of their information communications technology (ICT) istailored to support business priorities and processes, improving theefficiency of their operations. Available as a repeatable, standardised setof managed services, BT Applications Assured Infrastructure also brings arange of advanced skills and technologies - previously only available tocustomers on a bespoke basis - within the grasp of mainstream business.

Supporting BT's ICT strategy, the new proposition combines BT's extensiveexperience in provision of corporate data networks and hosting with itsprofessional services capability, and utilises a range of industry-leadingtools1. It comprises five elements: Audit, Optimise, Monitor, Manage andAssure, which when deployed in their totality will enable companies to gaincontractual assurances against the performance of core businessapplications. At each stage, customers will benefit from a greaterunderstanding of the ICT fundamental to their organisation, and thereforeimprove the performance and potential of the underlying technology andbusiness as a whole. BT's vision and approach has been endorsed by a numberof industry-leading software vendors.

Andy Green, CEO, BT Global Services, said: "In today's global market,companies' operations and customers are frequently dispersed, so businesssuccess depends on the underlying ICT being failsafe. Our recent research3shows that a huge amount of money and time is being wasted each year byEuropean enterprises trying to sort out application performance problems.Poor performance can severely impact the bottom-line, and divert resourcesfrom exploiting new business opportunities.

"Businesses need a better understanding of the relationship betweenapplications and the infrastructure they run over. We're providing anintelligent solution that resolves issues before they happen. On a bespokebasis, the BT Applications Assured Infrastructure methodology has alreadyhelped a number of organisations to boost performance and efficiency. I amdelighted to be extending this as a standardised offering providingguaranteed performance to corporates worldwide."

In a separate release:

The top 2,000 European businesses are wasting in excess of three millionworking hours every year, equating to approximately a quarter of a billioneuros, trying to get to the root of poor application performance, accordingto research commissioned by BT1. With companies becoming increasinglydependent on the efficiency of their core business applications, thefindings worryingly show that 25 per cent of IT directors and managersadmithat they are not confident that they know of all the ways in whichtheir corporate networks are being used.

The survey, carried out by Coleman Parkes Research, a leadingbusiness-to-business marketing research company, identifies the key reasonswhy businesses are struggling to resolve issues around applicationperformance. Over 60 per cent cite lack of resources (money / people /time), 11 per cent are short of the necessary skills and expertise, and theremaining 27 per cent fail even to see the importance of addressingperformance-related problems.

Andy Green, CEO, BT Global Services, said: "In today's global market,companies' operations and customers are frequently dispersed, so businesssuccess depends on the underlying information communications technology(ICT) being failsafe. Our research2 shows that a huge amount of money andtime is being wasted each year by European enterprises just trying to sortout application performance problems. And this figure increasesdramatically when the impact of poor application performance on businessproductivity is factored in. Gartner, for example, estimates that onaverage a failed application costs an enterprise about $100,000 per hour!Furthermore, poor application performance can severely impact thebottom-line, and divert resources from exploiting new businessopportunities. Businesses need a better understanding of the relationshipbetween applications and the infrastructure they run over.

"BT Applications Assured Infrastructure, the new service we're announcingtoday, supports our ICT strategy, combining our extensive experience in theprovision of corporate data networks with our professional servicesexpertise. On a bespoke basis, this methodology has already helped a numberof organisations to boost the performance and efficiency of their ICT. I amdelighted to be extending this as a standardised offering providingguaranteed performance to corporates worldwide."

BT Applications Assured Infrastructure is designed to enable multi-siteorganisations to gain a greater understanding of the complex interactionsthat occur within their infrastructure - from desktop to data centre. As aresult, they will be able to guarantee that the performance of their ICT istailored to support their business priorities and processes, improving theefficiency of their operations. Available as a repeatable, standardised setof offerings, BT Applications Assured Infrastructure also brings a range ofadvanced skills and technologies - previously only available to customerson a bespoke basis - within the grasp of mainstream business.

In another release:

To support the launch of its major new initiative, BT Applications AssuredInfrastructure, BT today announced the extension of its existing contractwith software and services vendor, Compuware Corporation. BT ApplicationsAssured Infrastructure is designed to enable multi-site organisations togain a greater understanding of the complex interactions that occur withintheir infrastructure – from desktop to data centre, and guarantee that theperformance of their information communications technology (ICT) istailored to support their business priorities and processes.

Under the extended contract, BT will incorporate elements of Compuware'sPerformance Management suite - Compuware Vantage - into its new AAIoffering. These service management solutions (Compuware Network Vantageand Compuware Application Vantage) recognise over 2,500 applications andenable bespoke or legacy solutions to be identified and named. They willbe used to provide critical insight on both application and networkperformance and will be combined with BT's extensive experience in theprovision of corporate data networks and hosting, and its professionalservices expertise.

Andy Green, CEO, BT Global Services, said: "In toda's global market,companies' operations and customers are frequently dispersed so businesssuccess depends on the underlying ICT being failsafe. BT ApplicationsAssured Infrastructure is an intelligent solution that helps resolveapplication performance issues before they happen, and will enable us toprovide assurances to businesses that their critical applications willperform in a predictable and consistent manner. Compuware's Vantage suiteis an important part of our ability to offer this service, enabling us tobuild an accurate picture of the performance of a customer'sinfrastructure. I’m delighted to build on the success we’ve had workingwith Compuware on bespoke projects, extending our relationship to supportour new industriaslised managed services offering. Given Compuware's strongmarket penetration, global reach and established brand name, this was anatural step forward."

"We firmly believe that the ability to offer enterprises this kind ofvalue-added intelligence is essential for ongoing business success. Byguaranteeing the performance of business-critical applications, companieswill be able to ensure that their business priorities and processes arefully supported and optimised, which reduces operational risk," said IreneDawson, senior vice-president EMEA, at Compuware. We are delighted to beworking with BT - a global communications company that can deliver this end-to-endsolution, right from desktop to data centre."

BT Group plc