Computing power will become an easier commodity to manage when it
becomes a utility like gas, water or electricity
Introduction
The idea of computing power, such as applications, storage and
processing power, becoming available like electrical current or the
flow of water is not new. Often called utility computing, it has
two main schemata. The most common has the various components (such
as servers, hard disks, RAM) located on your premises, but dormant.
These components are installed by a hardware supplier to be
activated and purchased upon demand. The second method uses a data
connection to a source, such as an ASP, that provides processing
power, data storage and applications in a "metered" fashion. The
idea of having "capacity on demand" stems from the mainframe world.
Companies such as IBM have long offered extra capacity within large
enterprise systems which is not used but available as both a fault
tolerance measure and to increase response times to problems.
Considering that the cost of an installation may run into the
millions, this extra capacity is likely to be used and doesn't eat
into the profit margins by a great deal. These types of "capacity
on demand" deals have normally been worked out on a case-by-case
basis and are only available to the Fortune 500 types who can
command a great deal of attention directly from larger computer
manufacturers.The ASP model of "capacity on demand" is centred on
applications. Instead of each customer paying for a fixed number of
licences, or providing enough server capacity to support a wide
range of applications, each application can be served on a per user
or even per use basis. The number of service providers in this
space is growing quickly as are the variety of applications. These
can range from simple programs, such as word processing,
spreadsheets and contact management, to complex enterprise systems
such as SAP and human resource management. ASP is often compared
with the outsourced capacity model; when the infrastructure is also
managed as a service, it makes it easy to produce a simple cost per
user, or applications complete with tight service level
agreements.Data storage is the last element that is moving towards
a utility model. As bandwidth cost for data starts to tumble down,
the prospect of huge, secure facilities that simply provide data
storage to customers via broadband links becomes a reality. At the
moment, companies like Backitup and Safeguard already offer this
service for low-capacity, single users. However, ISPs are starting
to look at extending these products to the corporate space.
The
industryOne of the leaders in the space of "capacity on demand"
is Hewlett-Packard (HP), which has aggressively targeted the SME
market with services normally associated with their high-end 9000
series. Terry Walden, Enterprise Server marketing manager for HP,
recently outlined the direction of HP's recently announced
"capacity on demand" initiative for the enterprise."We have seen
massive growth within the start-up sector, and the challenge has
been reacting quickly enough to provide for these energetic
companies. In our high-end server market, providing additional
storage and processing power within the customer premises as both a
failsafe and to deal with high demand is common. This same
principle is now available on entry-level servers such as the new
A-Class."Through HP's channel partners, a company can specify that
a server is shipped with extra processors, memory and storage
capacity that lies dormant until demand rises. For this extra
capacity, a nominal monthly charge is made. This extra capacity is
provided based on the usage forecast calculated between the
customer and a consultant from the reseller. Some increase in
demand may result from application development work, seasonal
conditions or a successful marketing campaign. As demand increases,
capacity can be increased via software keys that activate extra
hardware inside the servers and attached storage. "The instant
capacity service fits into a overall utility computing blueprint
that we have been working on for sometime" continued Walden.
"Complete IT infrastructures can also be provided on a pay on
forecast basis, which helps start-ups get off the ground without
committing themselves to an expensive and inflexible IT
infrastructure." Walden admits that just having extra capacity
built into hardware is not the complete solution, as adequate
service provisioning and infrastructure need to be designed with
increased capacity in mind.Fujitsu Siemens Computers is also moving
towards a more utility-focused market, especially with their
high-end PRIMEPOWER servers. Definitely sitting within the
supercomputer realm, the system scales from 16 processors up to a
massive 128-processor array with each RISC based CPU able to
support 2Gb of memory. For businesses expecting massive growth,
adding additional freestanding servers can be a complex process, as
Ian Stewart, the company's Unix marketing manager, explains.
"Adding extra standalone servers is not suitable for the larger
ASPs, both in terms of management and the support infrastructure
required to power, back-up and monitor these systems.""We have seen
the demand for Unix-based enterprise server systems steadily
increase from companies offering ASP services. These companies need
to be able to rationalise their hardware and scale up services
quickly without increasing the complexity of system management.
With our PRIMEPOWER series, you can effectively add extra
processors and RAM via a single slot-in card which provide extra
virtual machines for each customer, but with a single management
interface and reduced installation overheads."
Data
carriersEven the carrier markets are becoming more
utility-based. Noel Dunn, one of the founders of Unica, a company
specialising in providing data and voice services, points out that
the "...amount of fibre being put into the ground is phenomenal.
The cost of a 1Mb lease line a year ago now gets you 2Mb, and data
charges are literally falling by the month. As a business, Unica
purchases bandwidth based on what the best deal is at the moment
from a portfolio of carriers that provide our required level of
service. From this, we can then offer a single price solution to
our customers.""So, if a customer comes to us and requests more
bandwidth or different services, we can look across our carrier
suppliers and find a service to suit them. From their perspective,
this change is transparent. They deal with us and we provide to
them increased capacity without having to deal with multiple
suppliers or technical issues." Unica is to launch a
business-to-business service later this year where customers can
purchase data and voice services directly via the
Web.
SummaryThe prospect of IT as a utility like gas,
electricity and water is coming closer. The need to simplify
computing helps both customer and vendor. However, Richard
Wendland, a senior researcher at Durlacher, offers a word of
caution. "The idea of utility computing is not new, but the biggest
issue facing the industry and customers is provisioning. Managing
the distribution and implementation of computer resources needs to
change if utility computing is to become a benefit to business."
Whether you call it "utility computing", "instant capacity" or
"scalability", IT infrastructure can be deployed quickly under the
right circumstances. The dotcoms seem to be the focus of much of
the activity in this area, but any business can gain more at the
flick of a switch.
Will Garside