(continued)
Linux is also making gains on the high end, as
that endlessly adaptable mainframe proves a viable platform for the
software. Winnebago jumped on the bus nearly three years ago, using
mainframe-based Linux for such applications as Web serving, file
sharing, and other Internet-related functions, and other mainframe
shops are following suit.
More typical, however, is Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. "Our
systems administrators are trying to learn and experiment with a
version of Linux," says John Mitchell, vice president of IT at the
Findlay, Ohio, tire manufacturer. "We don't know if we want to bet
the company on Linux yet." But many analysts expect that following a
suitable period of tire-kicking, most companies will increase their
reliance on Linux, perhaps not on the desktop, where Windows reigns
supreme, but certainly within the data center.
Centralization entails software decisions beyond the operating
system, of course. Oracle Corp., for one, is promoting
"single-instance" software, whereby customers can run all their
operations using one copy of its enterprise applications.
Always happy to hold itself up as an example to follow, Oracle
got single-instance religion a couple of years ago when it found it
was running some 64 databases worldwide. "We had essentially one per
country," says Steve Miranda, vice president for applications
development at the Redwood Shores, California, company.
No more. Today Oracle has reduced 64 sites to just 3, and will
soon be reliant on a single data center in Austin, Texas, with a
redundant site at the ready in the event of disaster. Fifteen of
Oracle's large multinational customers are following suit. "The
majority of our customers are in a similar boat, with their ERP
systems installed multiple times throughout their enterprise," adds
Miranda.
Besides getting rid of redundant hardware and systems, companies
find that this kind of centralized approach makes it easier to
perform such reporting functions as global audits. The advent of
Web-based technologies does, in theory, make a single virtual data
center out of widely distributed computing resources, but proponents
of the single instance argue that a single installation is rigid
enough to enforce processes while remaining flexible to financial
practices.
Copy That?
Even as companies centralize hardware and
software, they are choosing to distribute data storage. The idea is
to maintain identical sets of data in different locations to protect
against service interruptions.
"If data center A goes away, we can bring all the same data up
instantly on data center B," says Allan Woods, vice chairman and CIO
at Mellon Financial. This is a trend all CFOs — not just those at
banks — should be aware of, he believes. "It will be on most CFOs'
radar soon if it isn't already — the acceptance that disaster
planning and business recovery are investments that companies will
have to make," he adds.
Costs per gigabyte of storage continue to plunge — bad news for
vendors, since a concomitant rise in demand has not materialized,
but good for customers. When it comes to storage, at least,
"absolute dollar expense is not something that drives most CFOs
crazy," says Woods.
Helping to drive costs lower: the trend away from traditional
direct-attached storage and toward various forms of networked
storage. According to a study from McKinsey & Co. and Merrill
Lynch & Co., a company with five terabytes of data storage would
save $2.5 million during a three-year period by opting for
networked-storage technology.
Sidebar: Glass House or Greenhouse?
The data center has
long been renowned for its specialized needs in terms of the care
and feeding of a mainframe: raised floors, special cooling systems,
and plenty of backup power. But with so much processing power moving
to small, low-cost servers, shouldn't any room do for a data
center?
Not necessarily. It turns out that newer computers often have
gargantuan appetites for energy and require plenty of cooling
capacity in order to counter the prodigious amounts of heat thrown
off by multiple CPUs.
"The heat output and power requirements of the new generation of
rack and blade servers are 6 to 10 times what many data centers are
designed to handle," says Carl Claunch, vice president and research
director at Gartner. The typical data center was designed to provide
40 watts per square foot of space, versus a demand for 300 watts or
more posed by new data centers. "For many companies," predicts
Claunch, "this will mean a fairly extensive retrofitting, or else
they will have to find emergency or secondary centers to host their
new systems."
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