Wed, June 04, 2008 — CIO — On June 2, Credit Suisse announced that its very own virtualization management software, which the bank's global R&D group had been working on for years, was now for sale through a startup, called DynamicOps, which is entirely funded by Credit Suisse's venture group.

It's an interesting "first" for Credit Suisse, spinning a company and a product out of IT. And their timing's excellent, since IT leaders are now feeling increased pressure to maximize the ROI of virtualization efforts, analysts say.

The VRM (virtual resource management) product has managed thousands of Credit Suisse's virtual desktops and servers at multiple Credit Suisse data centers worldwide since 2005.

Its most important feature: it allows business lines and users to self-provision computing resources, reducing lead times from when business requests server power and when IT actually delivers it.

"We've derived tremendous value and gains in using this for desktop and server provisioning, clearly in the areas where we've consumed the self-service provisions," says Steve Yatko, managing director of Credit Suisse's global research and development group, where the VRM baby was born. "Now we're moving to minutes versus weeks and, in worst cases, maybe a month." (CIO profiled Credit Suisse's virtualization efforts and former CIO Tom Sanzone in 2007, in "Taking Virtual Servers to the Next Level.")

According to DynamicOps CEO Rich Krueger, the VRM product "is, essentially, an IT service-delivery platform for ongoing management of virtualized servers and virtual desktops."

Credit Suisse quietly founded DynamicOps in January 2008; it now has 15 employees, including CTO Leslie Muller, a former senior technologist at Credit Suisse. At this point, Credit Suisse's Next II venture group, which is a part of Credit Suisse's investment banking division, is the sole investor in DynamicOps.

What's interesting in the new relationship is that while the Next II group serves as DynamicOps' board, notes Krueger, Credit Suisse's IT department is now another customer to DynamicOps, with its own support and sales staffers. "We treat Credit Suisse like a large and very important customer to us," Krueger says.

As to Credit Suisse IT's relationship expectations, Yatko says, "we would expect it to be no different than our existing partnerships that we have, only that we know some of the ins and outs of the software."

Benefits of Virtualization Management Software

In enterprises today, virtualization technologies such as server virtualization can reduce data center and capital costs, provide faster provisioning capabilities and enable more flexible computing resource allocation. (To read how Credit Suisse's former CIO makes virtualization meaningful to his bosses and Wall Street, see "Does Your Work in IT Matter to Wall Street?")