Product Watch

Infrastructure Instructions

Tewksbury, Mass.-based technology vendor mValent wants to clear up the mathematical equation that exists at many securities firms: existing infrastructure plus new applications equals "configuration chaos."

The vendor's new flagship solution is mValent Infrastructure Automation Suite. It aims to enable architects to model infrastructure changes and eliminate trial-and-error tinkering when adding applications or clients to an existing infrastructure.

The tool accounts for planning, building and maintaining infrastructure updates, says Swapnil Shah, president and CEO of mValent. The suite includes a centralized repository for capturing, modeling and tracking infrastructure configuration. The repository offers an element-by-element view of how each movement or addition to the infrastructure will affect all involved parties, allowing users to model changes without manual intervention, Shah explains. In addition to monitoring internal infrastructure, Shah points out that the solution can be used to track the efforts of third-party service providers, which often develop applications offshore.

While firms can opt to outsource infrastructure, or try to build and maintain it in-house, Shah notes that "as the economy [heats] up, more applications are being developed [and incorporated into existing systems], making for a more complex IT department." In fact, he says, one large brokerage firm has already found success using mValent's Infrastructure Automation Suite to manage its financial benefits portal. By leveraging economies of scale and adding customization, mValent can offer a cost-effective solution, he says, with prices starting at $50,000, based on the number of users.

www.mvalent.com, 978.640.0460

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