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Mercury Interactive Inc. this week will introduce its Optane suite of products and services, which are designed to gather information from applications, databases, servers, storage, and network devices, analyze the data, and translate it into metrics that a business manager can understand.

One challenge Mercury faces, along with systems integrator Accenture, a Mercury partner, is developing software links into all the IT products, applications, and devices it wants to monitor. Analysts say it could take months before the vendors have enough software hooks to cover a significant percentage of an enterprise's IT infrastructure.

Bob Lewandowski, senior director of E-business at passenger airline American Trans Air, hopes Optane can provide a more holistic view of the company's infrastructure. That knowledge will help business and IT executives work together better, he says. "We must become more focused on projects that bring on ROI quickly."