(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Technology_Infrastructure_Library)
Responding to growing dependence on IT, the UK Government's Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) in the 1980s developed a set of recommendations. It recognized that without standard practices, government agencies and private sector contracts were independently creating their own IT management practices.
The IT Infrastructure Library originated as a collection of books, each covering a specific practice within IT Service Management. ITIL was built around a process-model based view of controlling and managing operations often credited to W. Edwards Deming and his plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle.
(http://itsm.fwtk.org/History.htm)
The ITIL concept emerged in the 1980s, when the British government determined that the level of IT service quality provided to them was not sufficient. The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), now called the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), was tasked with developing a framework for efficient and financially responsible use of IT resources within the British government and the private sector.
The earliest version of ITIL was actually originally called GITIM, Government Information Technology Infrastructure Management. Obviously this was very different to the current ITIL, but conceptually very similar, focusing around service support and delivery.
Large companies and government agencies in Europe adopted the framework very quickly in the early 1990s. ITIL was spreading far and, and was used in both government and non-government organizations. As it grew in popularity, both in the UK and across the world, IT itself changed and evolved, and so did ITIL.
In year 2000, The CCTA merged into the OGC, Office for Government Commerce and in the same year, Microsoft used ITIL as the basis to develop their proprietary Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF).
In 2001, version 2 of ITIL was released. The Service Support and Service Delivery books were redeveloped into more concise usable volumes. Over the following few years it became, by far, the most widely used IT service management best practice approach in the world.
In 2007 version 3 if ITIL was published. This adopted more of a lifecycle approach to service management, with greater emphasis on IT business integration.
(http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/An-Insight-Into-The-History-Of-Itil/1065837)
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.
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