subject: An Insight Into The History Of Itil [print this page] The Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or as it is more commonly referred to, ITIL is essentially a set of standards for the most efficient application of Information Technology services within a business environment. But just where did it all start?
ITIL started life known as GITIM back in the 80s and was initially brought about by the Margaret Thatcher led British Government belief that there was a need for some globally applicable IT standards. At that time, the British Government alone was spending 8 billion in Information Technology every single year and was also witnessing the rapidly growing reliance that companies up and down the country had on IT. This convinced them that a set of best practice guidelines was necessary.
They, however, were not the first to see this need. Back in 1972, IBM had already begun to research effective implementation of IT services within business and this led to the publication in 1980 of Volume 1 of IBM's 'A Management System for Information Business.' This is commonly said to have been one of many influences for what eventually became the Information Technology Infrastructure Library.
The Government's own research into best practices for IT was commissioned in 1986 and then in 1988 it published its official guidelines for the implementation of information technology services within government. It was published under the title, 'Government Information Technology Infrastructure Management' and was widely referred to by its abbreviation, GITIM.
However, the name was soon to change in order that the standards would become marketable to private organisations and by the early 90s, uptake had been huge. Organisations all over the world were using the standards for the most effective implementation of IT services within their businesses. As we know, IT continues to develop and grow. So too does ITIL in line with those changes. In 2001, version 2 was released and in 2007, version 3 came about. As IT reliance is now at an all time high, more and more companies are using the standards and investing heavily in ITIL training for staff.
