Virtualization Of Corporate IT

Apply virtual reality and artificial intelligence to corporate networks and information-technology departments and you can simulate stack of systems that can automate any network of data centers and let you manage it from anywhere.

In network terms, virtualization takes on a different meaning, with VMWare providing shared processing and management.

As we more further along the knowledge continuum towards artificial intelligence taking over administrative takes, network administrators will no longer deal with security patches or server partitioning. Nor will they deal with service provisioning. Customers can request services and applications on line, and the new application is server almost instantly at whatever computing power was ordered. A new era of network intelligence can be accessed using a virtual reality interface.

Service provisioning for phone services can be managed likewise. The always constraining billing and back office functions are standardized.

These are just a few examples of what technology executives are attemting to create using virtual infrastructures. Hardware, software and billing are expected to be sufficiently standardized and reliable to allow automation at the service level.
The current design and delivery is driven by sound technology processes and policy. In the future, compliance to process and policies will be mandated by systems, not people.

The net result will be a lot fewer systems administrators and a lot more business analysts devising ways to become more efficient.

Research firm Gartner predicts that 40% of personal computers shipped in 2008 will include virtualization technology that will allow their electronic brains to be shared in corporate-wide computing grids.

Where technical incompatibility was once the key issue, the future looks more likely to be people incompatibility as employees become more competitive to retain their positions and vendors more proprietary about sharing servers with other vendors applications.

Path To Virtualization And AI Management

The path to virtualization and artificial intelligence management will need to remedy a number of issues:

Standards - these continue to be an overarching complication. Competing vendors may not support their applications if they reside on the same servers.
Processes - companies must refine and document processes before they can automate them.
Technical Convergence - companies must consolidate their hardware and software into a single set of applications, usable data and communications.

All this may require knowledge of the business that many businesses may not have. This is where experienced process and systems analysts will be in hot demand.
And the benefit to the company…

If a company with 400 servers consolidates just 15% of those machines, it could save nearly $713,400 annually, according to an estimate by Baseline Business Information Services.

And, automating data operations translates to more work with less staff; redirecting the focus of staff to more meaningful customer facing projects that drive growth in sales; and others on product development to improve bottom-line results.

NEXT: Platform Virutalization