This IDC study uses the IDC MarketScape model to provide an assessment of a number of vendors participating in the worldwide distributed server/workload automation software market. The IDC MarketScape is an evaluation based on a comprehensive framework and a set of parameters that assess vendors relative to one another and to those factors expected to be most conducive to success in a given market during both the short term and the long term.

IDC's analysis of the worldwide distributed server/workload automation software market indicates that it is a highly dynamic and competitive market where traditional players and more recent entrants are jousting to establish leadership positions. "IDC's research indicates that this market is in such a dynamic state of flux that it is impossible to identify one or two specific leaders. Every vendor we evaluated had areas of strength and areas that need additional maturation and development," says Mary Johnston Turner, IDC research vice president, Enterprise Systems Management Software. "In the next several years, IDC expects to see the Major Players aggressively compete to establish clearer market leadership as they race to dominate the emerging cloud automation arena while continuing to add value to existing physical and virtual server/workload automation and run-book automation engagements. The shape of this market will be fluid and dynamic over the next several years, with many opportunities for vendors to innovate and for customers to radically improve the efficiency of their datacenter management environments."