There's a lot of sloppy reporting in the world. But it still amazes me that
so many people would get things so wrong when it comes to the number of
machines and what it signifies.
If the world of computing were actually materially advancing, we would
fully expect the number of machines to collapse to equal the number of data
centers (perhaps plus one). So that number would typically be two (or
perhaps three): one (or two) for the primary data center, and one for the
alternate data center. Any more than that means there are capacity
constraints and/or inefficiencies yet to be conquered.
That's *exactly* what's happening/has happened as mainframe computing
continues to push the envelope furthest and farthest. The System z machines
are getting so powerful, so efficient, so thoroughly virtualized, that the
vast majority of customers only need "a couple" to run their entire
businesses, and with the highest possible qualities of service. And IBM is
quite happy with that outcome, because it represents the highest
achievement in real-world computing, the maximum bang-for-the-buck. It's
exactly what customers want (maximum efficiency), and it's exactly what IBM
is building. Citigroup said just that in the zEnterprise announcement: they
can do much more work on many fewer machines, and that's such an obvious
and clear measure of business computing efficiency ("do more with less").
Yet that's exactly what's NOT happening (or at least not happening fast
enough) in the rest of computing -- and that's a big problem for individual
businesses and for the planet. Remember those old movies which talked about
how "the computer was so big, it took up a whole room"? Well, unfortunately
we've gone exactly backwards: the rooms have gotten bigger, not smaller,
and now they're stuffed to the gills with lots of machines, each satisfying
(if we're lucky) a tiny piece of the overall business's needs.
This is progress? Heck, no!
So let's consider what "modern" really means. If one machine can do the
work of thousands, in a fraction of the space/power/cooling, isn't that the
more modern machine? For sure, yes, it has got to be.
- - - - -
Timothy Sipples
Resident Enterprise Architect
STG Value Creation & Complex Deals Team
IBM Growth Markets (Based in Singapore)
E-Mail: [email protected]
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