ITIL 4 Foundation
AXELOSThe earliest incarnation of ITIL was released in the late 1980s. This early version was called GITIM, Government Information Technology Infrastructure Management, and while it is very different from today's ITIL, they both share the goal of offering improved support and delivery.
Across Europe, this structure became widespread among government agencies and private sector companies, and by the early 1990s, ITIL was beginning to change the face of IT, not only in the UK and Europe, but around the world.
ITIL soon grew to a strong 30-volume catalog that recommended and provided IT best practices, targeting and addressing customer and business needs.
2000 - ITIL V2 released
At the turn of the millennium, CCTA became OGC. In 2000, Microsoft also adopted ITIL as the basis for the development of its Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF), along with the first significant change to OGC, which resulted in the release of ITIL v2. The new version was aimed at making ITIL more accessible to the general public, and broke the 30-volume framework into nine interrelated categories. Over the next few years, ITIL became the standard of best practice in information technology and the world's most widely used IT service management tool.
2007 - ITIL V3 or ITIL Upgrade Project
In 2006, the ITIL Glossary was released, further reaffirming ITIL's commitment to usability. The following year, the third version of ITIL was published, which put more emphasis on the integration of the IT business and focused on the concept of the service life cycle. ITIL v3 compressed 26 processes and functions into 5 volumes, and after launch it acquired the name ITIL Refresh Project.
2011 - Revision V3
In 2011, AXELOS released a revised version of ITIL, which fixed bugs and inconsistencies with V3. In this 2007 update, 5 volumes compose the ITIL Service Catalog: ITIL Service Strategy, ITIL Service Design, ITIL Service Transformation, ITIL Service Operation, and ITIL Service Continuous Improvement. This 5 volumes of ITIL is currently the foundation for all ITIL best practices around the world.
Since 2013, ITIL has been owned by AXELOS Ltd, a joint venture between Capita Plc and the UK Cabinet.
The current version of ITIL was launched in 2019. V4 has more practical guidance on using ITIL, especially in collaborative environments. This makes it easier for organizations to align ITIL with DevOps, Agile and Lean working methods. ITIL V4 adopts a more holistic service management philosophy, making it broader and more inclusive for today's IT environment