Dear Reader,

Faster & Better?

“Doing things ‘cheaper, faster, better’ is always the aim of course,” mentioned EDS’s Steve Lapekas in a conversation last week “but getting to the ‘faster’ and the ‘better’ is ultimately what it’s all about.” Lapekas was talking with reference to the new DCML open standard launched last week and, along with the co-author of the new open standard, is interviewed in this newsletter but his comment serves as a summary for the current state of the utility computing market.

Responding to the relentless budget pressure of the last 3 years, “cheaper” is what it has been all about. ‘Do more for less’ has become the marketing cliché of 2003. Adopted by IT marketeers everywhere, it serves to underscore the cost-saving benefits of utility computing.

Now, cheaper is, of course, no bad thing. In fact it’s a very good thing and the news from AMR Research that traditional outsourcing can be combined with utility computing models and save 43% on IT budgets is indeed welcome.

However, whilst the cost saving benefits of on demand computing have been sufficient to get attention-starved vendors back in the door of target clients, it can never be the whole picture.

The financials of North America and many parts of Europe look like they are flirting with strong growth; certainly, it’s not outrageous to say that 2004 has the potential to be a year of economic recovery. It will also be the year in which IT and business departments begin to focus upon “faster and better” once again. Utility computing is going to play a major role in that and the building blocks are ever more obvious, DCML, being a major case in point.

Mike Lee
Editor

Utility Computing Report

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Equalling out the playing field for utility computing
Last month saw the high-profile launch of a new utility computing standards initiative, Data Centre Markup Language (DCML). Described by founding partner, EDS as the “first standardized data center language,” this open standard is supported by 25 different companies. In this interview Darrel Thomas, co-author of DCML and Hosting Chief Technologist along with Steve Lapekas, Hosting Global Director for EDS, discuss this new development and how it fits in with the established strategies of IBM and HP. Click here for Full Article
[by Michael Lee, Editor, Utility Computing]

AMR: Outsourcing can save up to 43% of IT budget
A new report from AMR Research documents that large-scale outsourcing can save nearly half the IT budget, raising the prospect that utility computing - the next generation of IT outsourcing - could save even more. Click here for Full Article
[by Bernadette Hearne, Contributing Editor, Utility Computing]

UtilCompWorld 2004
23 - 24 March 2004 - New York

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The world's only business strategy conference for On Demand computing.

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On-Demand gets personal
IBM has announced IBM WorkPlace on demand services, a new initiative designed to help users reduce the costs of managing their personal technology, including PCs, printers, copiers, fax machines and mobile devices.
[2003/11/4 UC Newsdesk]

VERITAS CommandCentral joins NetBackup and Backup Exec
VERITAS has announced the availability of CommandCentral Service 3.5 software, fulfilling the company's commitment to the utility computing model, delivering backup, recovery and storage as a service. The new software measures and reports on IT resource consumption, service levels and costs and is fully integrated with Veritas' backup and recovery products, NetBackup and Backup Exec.
[2003/11/4 UC Newsdesk]

Ejasent to develop On-Demand Infrastructure Reference Implementation with IBM
Ejasent Inc., a solution provider in application management, application virtualization and usage data aggregation, reporting and analysis software for utility computing, announced that it is working with IBM's jStart program to jointly develop an on-demand infrastructure reference implementation, complete with usage-based metering and chargeback.
[2003/10/30 UC Newsdesk]

Metilinx and CA join with Microsoft on Enterprise Management
Microsoft has announced new partners for its Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2000 which is part of the company's Dynamic Systems Initiative. MOM delivers operations management capabilities by providing event management, monitoring and alerting, reporting, and trend analysis. The Web services-based MOM Connector Framework (MCF) allows users to integrate MOM with external management tools and providing increased management benefits.
[2003/10/30 UC Newsdesk]

CGI partners with Sun for Life Sciences Utility Computing Solution
Sun Microsystems announced that CGI Group Inc. (CGI), a provider of information technology and business process outsourcing services, is launching a utility computing-based Life Sciences Solution using Sun's utility computing model.
[2003/10/28 UC Newsdesk]

Volume 01 Issue 19
Disasters: How prepared is your utility computing provider?... Q&A with Computer Associates... Any port in a storm?... You Want Employees Along With That (Virtual) Functionality?...
Click here read it online! >>

Volume 01 Issue 18
Gartner and Forrester: Use of Web services skyrocketing... Virtualising the parts other companies cannot reach... More CRM On-Demand...
Click here read it online! >>

Volume 01 Issue 17
Vertias Q&A: Introducing 'Just in time' for IT resources... Utility Computing: Legal challenges and how to handle them... IBM debuts new grid solutions for banking, financial markets...
Click here read it online! >>

Volume 01 Issue 16
Utility Computing: Finding the Right Project and Picking a Service Provider... A cultural sea change with eyes wide open... Oracle Database 10g -- g for Grid...
Click here read it online! >>

Volume 01 Issue 15
Open Source points the way forward... Utility Computing: are there teeth in those bytes?... Utility Computing Can Help Prevent Further American Power Blackouts...
Click here read it online! >>