Fujitsu Illuminates Its Utility Computing; Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp.'s Triole utility computing strategy promises to let users create a flexible and dynamic IT infrastructure that is virtualized into a single pool and provisioned and deployed according to business demands.

Abstract

Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp.'s Triole utility computing strategy promises to let users create a flexible and dynamic IT infrastructure that is virtualized into a single pool and provisioned and deployed according to business demands. Triole focuses on three core areas: visualization, automation and integration.

Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp.'s Triole utility computing strategy promises to let users create a flexible and dynamic IT infrastructure that is virtualized into a single pool and provisioned and deployed according to business demands.

As such, the strategy, which Fujitsu rolled out for North American customers last week and which expands an initiative in place in Japan for three years, has goals similar to Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Adaptive Enterprise and IBM's on-demand computing initiatives.

Triole focuses on three core areas: virtualization, automation and integration. Earlier this month, Fujitsu Computer Systems, a subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd., rolled out a key part of the Triole push with the North American introduction of FlexFrame for MySAP Business Suite. The offering, which involves such standard technology as blade servers and Linux, combines hardware, storage and software designed to bring a virtualized utility computing environment to deployments of enterprise software from SAP AG, of Walldorf, Germany.

Another example of Triole technology is Fujitsu's Interstage XML Search, middleware that enables fast database searches by allowing users to extract data from multiple databases and that gives a unified view across those databases. The middleware offers such features as automatic load balancing, said company officials in Sunnyvale, Calif.

A key part of the automation offering will roll out next month when Fujitsu releases Resource Coordinator, middleware that will let users automate their rules policies, officials said.

Fujitsu will develop 20 platform integration templates that will serve as building blocks to help speed the construction of Triole-based installations and drive down costs. Customers will get pretested and preintegrated offerings. Customers in Japan have seen a 33 percent improvement in reliability using the Triole offerings, officials said.

Vernon Turner, an analyst at IDC, said Fujitsu's utility computing strategy differs from competitors' in approach but not goals. While the others have a more services-driven approach, Fujitsu, with its Platform-integration templates, offers customers more of a package, said Turner in Framingham, Mass. Fujitsu's Triole strategy

Utility computing initiative focuses on three areas:

Virtualization Moving from dedicated servers to a pool of resources

Automation Computers with self-healing, self-management and automated policy capabilities

Integration Templates, reusable components and services