Apptio, a provider of on-demand Technology Business Management (TBM) solutions, on Wednesday announced new capabilities that track the cost, quality and utilization of private cloud infrastructures. The new Private Cloud Business Management solution integrates with VMware and other IT systems to provide "charge by metered consumption" based on the total cost of the cloud service -- a key requirement for private cloud deployments. The deployment of private clouds is a major step in the adoption of cloud as an integral part of the IT supply chain. Apptio is first to market in providing a holistic solution for managing the cost, quality and value of the cloud for enterprise IT.

Companies are moving beyond traditional virtualization to adopt private clouds. But in order for this new model to be deemed successful, IT organizations must be able to chargeback business units for cloud services based on consumption. To do this, IT organizations must understand the services they provide to the business, the fully-loaded cost to deliver those services, and the consumption of those services by each line of business. Apptio integrates with VMware and other IT systems to incorporate all contributing costs such as virtual and physical servers, labor, facilities, software and other infrastructure based on the consumption of resources to provide an accurate TCO of private cloud services. Against that data, IT leaders can not only drive chargeback processes, but also quantify return on investment (ROI) and return on assets (ROA), service quality metrics, resource utilization metrics and demand management, and capacity planning -- everything IT leaders need to manage the business aspects of private cloud computing. With organizations spending millions of dollars on private cloud build outs over the next few years, Apptio arms business leaders with the insight and business processes to ensure proper governance and ROI of 'Cloud IT.'

Through 2012, Gartner forecasts IT organizations will spend more money on private cloud computing investments than on offerings from public cloud providers.* Given the increased adoption, the need for solutions like Apptio will be critical. Apptio's Private Cloud Business Management solution leverages data from VMware vSphere, VMware vCenter™ Chargeback and other sources to provide the total cost of private cloud services. IT is embarking into a new era of IT management with a supply chain that integrates traditional IT, private and external clouds at all levels of the infrastructure, platform and services spectrum. IT must have the systems and processes in place to adequately manage the cost, quality and value of IT services within this new paradigm.