| The objective is to beat the competition and make | | | | concerns another division or operating unit could even |
| money. Everything a business organization does | | | | grab priorities and deny processing at existing or |
| should be focused on that simple objective, with | | | | desired levels. |
| interpretation through various Vision and Mission | | | | An even greater concern may be the potential for |
| Statements. However if we take a survey of how | | | | losing additional operating budgets - resource |
| our organizations spend our energy, often that | | | | consolidation by nature reduces the cost of doing |
| objective is lost in a web of internal politics and | | | | business, thus it is expected individual units will require |
| positioning. Of course competition is normally good - | | | | less funding than they currently receive. |
| regardless of whether it is internal or external - to | | | | Of course in most cases this is simply not true - |
| the point we do not lose focus on company | | | | however it is a strong perception. |
| objectives as the ultimate outcome of our | | | | Now let's talk a bit more about GRID. You have |
| competition. | | | | probably heard about it - and have a nagging thought |
| We often use the phrase "winning battles and losing | | | | in the back of your head eventually you are going to |
| wars." That phrase really hits home when we record | | | | have to deal with it. You know it is going to seriously |
| all the things we do, every day of our business lives, | | | | disrupt conventional ideas about systems |
| that result in a situation where we are struggling with | | | | management and resource utilization, and it may be |
| more fervor for internal positioning then committing | | | | one of those thought s that you want to put out oif |
| energy in activities to beat our competition. What | | | | your mind until the last possible minute. |
| does "winning battles and losing wars really mean? | | | | Let's look at some simple GRID facts: |
| Perhaps the sales and operations groups are having | | | | Properly employed GRID will greatly increase the |
| difficulty with product and contract provisioning. Sales | | | | amount of compute resource available to your |
| of course wants to sign contracts, get acceptance, | | | | company. In the article "GRID Computing," Royal |
| and quickly start customer billing - their commission | | | | Bank Insurance gives the example that actuarial |
| depends on shortening the book to bank process. | | | | calculation requirements were reduced from 18 hours |
| Operations is unhappy because the contracts tend to | | | | to 32 minutes upon employment of their enterprise |
| stray from the letter of a product or service. Thus, | | | | GRID. |
| operations may dig their heels in and not expedite | | | | Monsanto claims in the same article they have |
| provisioning while the "bring the sales guys into line." | | | | reduced their new server purchase year over year |
| What is the result of this little battle? Of course, the | | | | by 90 percent |
| customer does not receive service within the want | | | | Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, Wachovia, and |
| date and the company does not get paid as quickly | | | | others have announced consolidating enterprise |
| as they would with a fast implementation and | | | | desktops into an enterprise processing GRID |
| acceptance. And I, as your competitor, will be | | | | With this level of enterprise adoption of GRID |
| aggressively spending my time eroding your market | | | | technologies, it is clear this is a technology we are all |
| share. The customer is angry, the sales and | | | | going to deal with within the next couple years. So if |
| operations people are angry, and your image in the | | | | the statistics mentioned in Platform's survey are true, |
| industry is tarnished while the competition quickly | | | | there is potentially going to be a lot of organizational |
| moves to exploit your weaknesses. | | | | trauma. However looking at the money savings, it is |
| Let's use a different example. Your organization has | | | | very clear that the benefits of employing GRID |
| the same challenge every other organization around | | | | resource virtualization within an organization are |
| the world has - a need for higher compute power, | | | | tremendous. |
| and a need to lower capital expenses on IT-related | | | | Thus the question should not be whether or not an |
| equipment. So we look into our bag of tools and | | | | individual or section will lose control of a small number |
| determine a few relatively easy innovations could | | | | of resources, but rather how much more work they |
| meet both objectives. You determine you can save | | | | can potentially do if their existing applications and |
| money and increase compute resource through: | | | | strategies can make use of the compute power of |
| Server consolidation | | | | the enterprise GRID. Once the power of the |
| Disk consolidation/virtualization | | | | corporate compute resource pool is addressed and |
| GRID computing | | | | registered, all compute intensive applications within |
| Easy, right? | | | | the organization will have much greater flexibility and |
| In Platform Computing's recent study "Organizational | | | | have greater potential for building innovation into their |
| Politics as a Barrier to | | | | product or service designs. With GRID resource, |
| Implementing Grid Computing" 79% of company | | | | applications can be better written to solve problems |
| managers indicated that resource consolidation and | | | | and tasks, rather than simply be written against the |
| virtualization should be considered high priorities for an | | | | limitations of a piece of hardware or operating |
| organization's IT planning, however 89% of the same | | | | system. |
| companies indicated organizational politics and other | | | | Just as email had a major impact on the way we |
| issues could pose a major barrier in accomplishing | | | | viewed business communications, GRID computing will |
| consolidation. | | | | have a similar effect on how we approach business |
| Why? Operating units, managers, and individuals have | | | | planning. As employees, leaders, and professionals |
| an inherent desire to control their own resources. | | | | now is the time for us to start thinking with long |
| Moving an application to a consolidated server | | | | term vision - don't think about winning petty battles |
| platform may result in the application user being | | | | within the organization - concentrate on winning the |
| denied the level of priority they believe is due them is | | | | war. Your resources contribute to the success of the |
| cited as a major concern. In addition, if existing | | | | organization in winning the corporate and global |
| resources are identified as potential contributors to a | | | | economic wars. |
| virtualized disk or compute platform, there are strong | | | | |