Do you know how many servers your organisation runs? If the
answer is no, you are not alone. An asset inventory would leave
many UK outfits surprised at the rates of server proliferation they
discover - many of them probably purchased without IT's knowledge
by other business departments.
And of all these boxes, how many are running at anything near
capacity? Probably few or none. Gartner statistics reveal that Unix
server utilisation is usually below 20%; and the figure drops lower
still for Wintel servers.
In these straitened times, users have to consolidate to accumulate.
Leaving significant "white space" idle on servers is unforgivable,
and so is running a jumble of non-standardised software and
hardware. IT departments need to wring maximum value from their
assets, and server consolidation is as good a start as any.
Trimming the number of datacentres you have, bunching applications,
rationalising your portfolio of hardware and software versions and
suppliers - Gartner calculates that such actions can deliver
savings of as much as 30% of your IT running costs.
Canny IT directors will be scouring their corporate architecture
for ways of cutting costs. This week's IT consolidation feature on
page 22 should provide clues galore.
Foreign interests could skew the skills agenda
The IT Sector Skills Panel, the body responsible for advising Work
Permit UK on the IT market's need for overseas workers, could soon
have a new permanent member.
Panel members last week learned that the India Business Group, a
trade body representing Indian software houses, would shortly be
joining them. Their response has been that while they are happy for
the IBG to air its opinions, they view full membership as
inappropriate. The panel, they point out, was created to represent
the best interests of the UK economy, and the introduction of
foreign members could compromise this aim.
Computer Weekly has already voiced its concern that, while
recruiting overseas workers may, in the short term, appeal to IT
managers looking for skilled workers on the cheap, in the longer
term it could cause the pool of skilled contractors in the UK to
dwindle too far. With the news that Work Permit UK proposes to
allow overseas interests to wield power on the very body
responsible for monitoring our IT skills base, our concern grows
all the more acute.