The story in the world of the enterprise is about the application. The application is the glue. It sits between IT, developers and the end user.

And due to this, havoc is rampant for the CIO trying to keep control while also not getting in the way of developers while also serving the customer.

We’re here at the HP blogger day to get the HP take on the need to service developers while also making sure they stay within the guard rails. That’s how HP describes it.

This is a funny time. Developers have been way ahead of IT, in particular with Agile development processes. They’re bringing in their own laptops and iPads. They’re downloading open-source tools to build applications. They’re the leading edge geeks who caught on early to the uses of a cloud infrastructure for test and development.

HP is clearly attempting to bridge IT with developers. They have a complete solution but it’s also incredibly complex and in some ways seems like its tools are for catching people using their own tools instead of those sanctioned by the IT department.

But that’s just part of it. HP sees its market strategy adapting to the new reality. Teams are distributed. Developers use Agile processes. Web 2.0 applications are hot. The cloud is not a vision, it’s instead a place where the office is located. It’s where they do their development, their testing and serve applications.

In that vein, HP today launched:

HP Service Virtualization 1.0: A defined platform within the enterprise for accessing a simulated environment and testing applications for launch is emerging. This is a reaction to developers needing a test and development environment for daily updates and continuous iterations. Services virtualization is designed to bring services to the code itself. The goal is to bring in third party services to fill out business processes that have been turned into applications. For example, a third party authentication service could be pulled into the business process.

HP Application Lifecycle Intelligence (ALI): Allows developers to aggregate data from multiple sources to create a picture of the development process. It is intended to allow developers to use their own tools but also helps monitor what they are doing. This allows organizations to measure the impact of changes on requirements, tests and defects, for a complete analysis of application quality prior to release.

HP Agile Accelerator 5.0: New version features a new scheduling tool for viewing deliverables in development and provides real-time visibility across the application lifecycle for rapid response to changing business requirements.

Services Angle

Perhaps of most interest in all of this is what we are seeing from Tasktop CEO Mik Kersten. Tasktop has developed an ALM viewer that he says is much like a Tweetdeck for developers. It fits with ALI, which can view the multiple lifecycle management tools that are inside the enterprise.

This is the kind of stuff that the CIO should be looking at closely. It moves them closer to being innovators than managers who are perceived as the ones who simply just keep the lights on.