A day in the life of a CIO - A driver for business change (page 2 of 2)

Surely it represents the pill that will cure the CIO's headache?

According to The Clipper Group, the US-based technology consultancy, utility computing is generally associated with five key attributes:

Virtualised: Computing resources are pooled and tailored for simpler management and better utilisation.

Open and heterogeneous: Standards and interoperability allow multiple vendors and even legacy equipment to be incorporated into an infrastructure. Customers benefit from choice and competition.

Unified and centrally managed: All the components that comprise the utility are centrally integrated, coordinated and managed, dramatically reducing operating costs.

Dynamic provisioning: Resources are dynamically and precisely allocated to meet changing business requirements.

Automated: The utility monitors and manages itself and takes action based on user-defined policies.

An IT infrastructure that combined all of these attributes in full would be a true computing utility. However, the real world is not quite this ideal yet, and the concept is still developing and will continue to evolve.

IDC, the IT research organisation, believe that the market will take off slowly at first, and will accelerate around 2007 or 2008. Larger companies are dipping their toes in, and the mid-market will follow.

While on the one hand 2007 or 2008 might seem like a long way off, it's not. We are so used to the fast-moving pace of technological hypes, often disguised as developments or solutions, that a well-developed business concept creates some eyebrow raising. We must remember that utility computing is a true business vision, and selling it as a quick-fix technology solution does not do it justice.