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On-Demand Computing Today
IT has commonly focused on providing computing resources to different groups and projects. The demands vary radically from project to project and department to department, and IT is trying to make everybody happy. Recently, everything has grown so large that it's increasingly difficult to manage separate little worlds of information - rather like rowdy B moons making ragged orbits around the central IT function. There are separate servers for separate applications, separate storage, separate service levels. Each system needs it own protection: backup and recovery, provisioning, replication. It's easy to add more servers and storage to meet service levels during processing spikes, but it gets harder and harder to manage and plan.
Utility computing is a model that can go a long way towards taming the beast, but only if it evolves to meet both technology and business needs demands. Utility computing is a model where computing resources are automatically assigned to a user on an asneeded basisrThe model is demanding? even basic 'utility computing demands multiple technologies including storage and server virtualization, grid computing, automated provisioning, and security. Given the impressive list of requirements, utility computing is often consigned to a hosted model such as large-scale services provided by companies like HP and IBM.
This has led to some confusion in the industry, which often talks as if utility computing were purely a host / service provider (SP) model. It's not; companies can (and perhaps should) deploy internal utility computing. But for now, the majority of utility computing investment is in hosted / public grid models. According to independent website Utility Computing, "The infrastructure required to deliver that reality is beginning to be put into place. IBM has been working on the idea for some time, but the major technology vendors are now all jostling for position. At this early stage, their offerings may be seen as IT outsourcing, where large corporations allow dedicated service providers to take care of all their IT needs." Internal deployments are out there and growing; with most adopters using professional services organizations that are proficient with utility computing structures.
Utility Computing Today
How does utility computing play out in today's storage and networking marketplace? Depending on who you talk to, utility computing might be...