ManageEngine, the real-time IT management company, announced the debut of ITPulse, the industry's first private social network exclusively for IT teams.

ITPulse engages and socializes IT teams by establishing a one-stop, cascading wall for real-time display of IT infrastructure health and collaboration in a secure and fun environment.

Integrated out-of-the-box with the company's OpManager and ServiceDesk Plus, ITPulse can also be integrated via an API for third-party tools, such as BMC, CA, HP, IBM and others.

With Facebook, Yammer, Chatter and other social networks soaring in popularity and redefining group communications, why would IT departments adopt ITPulse? Because unlike general audience counterparts, ManageEngine has specifically designed ITPulse to facilitate the unique communications needs of IT groups. In addition to providing a real-time communications channel to facilitate real-time IT management, ITPulse offers several unique advantages including:

- A single wall for all IT team members, which means that everybody "follows" everybody

- Exclusivity to IT, confining IT-related matters to IT team members

- A secure, critical line of communication during emergencies

- A venue for IT to have fun and blow off steam

"We're bringing the famous, Facebook-style, multi-threaded cascading wall to IT," said Dev Anand, ITPulse product manager for ManageEngine. "In addition to its day-in, day-out advantages, ITPulse can serve as a secure, critical line of communication during emergencies - especially for large enterprise IT teams that have to collaborate overseas or across multiple locations. And it's a place where sysadmins and other IT staff can blow off steam and have a little fun because they now have a better communication platform that replaces the old email-based communication."

Making IT fun is a daunting prospect, given the gravity of the IT profession. In IT, jobs are on the line 24x7 - whenever user experience suffers, systems fail, business services slow down, SLAs aren't met or any other issues arise. To relieve the constant pressure and restore sanity, ITPulse creates a safe haven for IT teams. They can view, discuss and collaborate on IT issues in a light-hearted, humorous manner that makes other IT staffers smile or laugh out loud, but might be unappreciated or misunderstood by users in the rest of the company.

The overarching goal of ITPulse is to improve the quality of information and communications for IT users. To that end, ManageEngine is making ITPulse available as both a standalone SaaS service as well as a module that will integrate with its portfolio of IT management tools, including:

- OpManager - User actions, such as alarm pickup, alarm clear, alarm delete and alarm notes, will be reflected automatically on the ITPulse wall.

- ServiceDesk Plus - User actions, such as 'add a knowledge-base article,' 'add a problem request,' 'add a change request,' and 'approve a change request,' will be posted on the ITPulse wall automatically. Additionally, users working from within the ITPulse UI will be able to initiate actions in ServiceDesk Plus.

The integrations, in turn, drive powerful automations that streamline IT collaboration in problem prevention and resolution. For example, if a network admin makes a change to a router config file, which is picked up by change management software and reported in OpManager as an alarm, the data gets posted on the ITPulse wall if someone acknowledges the alarm or adds notes to it - a much faster process than communicating via email or telephone.

ITPulse includes group-in-group support, which lets sub-teams within an IT team privately chat among themselves, keeping private discussions intact and posting only the key findings to the entire team.

In addition to ManageEngine users, the company is making ITPulse available to all IT community members regardless of the tools they use to manage their networks.

The ITPulse API is open, enabling integration with tools from BMC, CA, HP, IBM and other vendors, as well as with homegrown management solutions, such as a daily back-up script for a storage area network.

ITPulse will debut at Interop, May 6-10, 2012, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. ManageEngine will be exhibiting in booth number 2027.

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