On Demand Computing: Technologies and Strategies

Description

"Business on Demand" provides thought-provoking information and sound technology advice that will enable IT practitioners to build a world-class On Demand infrastructure. This book borrows from the lessons learned in IBM's successful implementation of a working Business on Demand framework to teach readers how to implement successfully within their own organization. The book includes innovative perspectives on the strategies and technologies required to deliver effective Business on Demand capabilities. In addition to examining IBM's own implementation, the book also includes case studies from other organizations, and provides a myriad of examples that will allow the reader to apply the solutions to their organization.

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Table of Contents

Preface.

1. Introduction to IBM On Demand Business.

    Turning Points in Information Technology.

    Beginning the On Demand Business Journey.

2. The On Demand Operating Environment.

    The on demand Operating Environment (odOE).

    Summary.

II. AUTONOMIC AND GRID COMPUTING .

3. Autonomic Computing Strategy Perspectives.

    The Autonomic Computing Vision.

    An Architectural Blueprint for Autonomic Computing.

    The Autonomic Computing Blueprint.

    An Evolution, Not a Revolution: Levels of Management, Maturity and Sophistication.

    Core Autonomic Capabilities.

    Standards for Autonomic Computing.

    Summary.

    Glossary of Autonomic Computing Terms.

4. Grid Computing.

    The Grid Computing Problem.

    Summary.

5. The Future of Grid Computing.

    Autonomic Computing.

    On Demand Business and Infrastructure Virtualization.

    Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Grid Computing.

    Semantic Grids.

   Summary.

6. Grid Computing Strategy Perspectives.   

    The Globus Project.

    Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA).

    Open Grid Services Infrastructure (OGSI).

    Grid Computing Service Instance Handles, References and Usage Models.

    Grid Computing Service Interfaces.

    Grid Computing, Globus GT3, and OGSI.

    Grid Computing Solution Implementation Cases.

    Summary.

    Grid Computing Resources.

III. SERVICE PROVIDERS AND CUSTOMER PROFILES.

7. The On Demand Business Service Provider Ecosystem.

    New-Generation Operations Software and Systems (NGOSS).

    The Need for Persistence and Advanced Forms of Communications by Service Providers.

    Ecosystem Dynamics and Business Drivers.

    Summary.

8. Industry Matters and Customer Profiles.

    Industry Sector Issues Driving On Demand Business Transformations across Vertical Industries.

    Customer Profiles.

    Summary.

    Market Perspectives.

    Closing Thoughts.

Index.

Preface

A lot of very sophisticated technology is involved in the journey to becoming an on demand business. This book de-mystifies these complexities, places boundaries in areas that have none, and brings clarity to areas that may have (until now) seemed vague to many people. This book describes on demand business strategies and technologies in terms that are concise, hard-hitting, and to the point.

Becoming an on demand business operation is absolutely a business conversation that many companies today should be having. Being an on demand business means not operating in the same old mode.

This book introduces a way to understand the real potential of the networked world, that is, where business strategy and processes are inextricably linked with technology strategy and deployment. Where thinking and lines of business intersect in a surprisingly seamless manner. As your company has started to navigate this intersection of thinking, business, and technology, the IBM Corporation has focused on and invested in becoming the strongest partner to support you in this On Demand Journey.

Can You See It?

It is important to know that on demand business is an evolution, not a revolution, and yes, it is a fundamental shift in the way the best companies operate, anywhere in the world. An on demand business is constantly thinking about:

• Allocating precious resources

• Structuring new and more efficient processes

• Competing and leading from the front

• Interacting with partners, employees, and customers with improved efficiencies

• Realizing lower operational costs and capital expenditures Becoming an on demand business is a response to a world that has become more volatile than ever before. This is not just about finding new ways to manage one's business through a weak economy. An on demand business mode of operation applies whether the economy is strong or weak. In fact,

growth can drive as many challenges as a downturn to a supply chain, to customer relationships, or to the resilience of your underlying infrastructure. An on demand business is not necessarily easy to see at first glance. As with

any evolution, it is time itself that is the determining factor. What is driving this worldwide operational shift? The consistent theme is that notable forces are converging on organizations, today, where both business forces and technical possibilities can easily intersect. These forces are driving different choices about business designs and underlying computing infrastructures. Of course, these forces are not new, but in an advanced networking services world, you feel these pressures more acutely and in real time. Because of the global marketplace and the Internet , every institution has far

greater contact with the world: access to more markets and information, exposure to more threats, and a rapid-fire, competitive environment. Those companies that lead their industries are the ones best able to adapt and build the right partnerships at this intersection of thinking, business, and technology.

At the highest level of this evolution, there is a relationship between business and IT. First, technology was applied as an integrated solution to a business problem. In this case, the problem was the inefficiency of manual back-office functions such as accounting and payroll. This inefficiency solution space yielded several benefits, but these benefits of yesterday remain today somewhat inflexible.

Next, there was the issue of exploding technology into every corner of the business, onto desktops, networks integrated into homes, even into our pockets and the backpacks of our children. There was a lot of value in empowering these networks into departments within businesses and also to private individuals, but proliferation spawned complexity and islands of autonomic functions.

Now we are well along in extending applications and business processes to the “Net.” However, an on demand business is not just connected; it is completely integrated, end-to-end, to drive organizational productivity and cost efficiencies. Our approach in the IBM Corporation not only includes a view showing that integration is an incremental process, but also one that delivers fundamental leaps in efficiency and responsiveness, management and control, as well as the empowerment of virtually all lines of business. This is a robust approach that brings a new agenda for a new global economy. This book presents this “new agenda” in a concise, hard-hitting, and to-the-point fashion.

In this environment, what does any business need from the IT industry? We think it is a partner that can help leverage competitive advantages, optimize existing IT infrastructures, and improve the variability and management of cost structures. This partner must be able to do this all within the context of what matters in a particular industry. This is, in part, what drove IBM's acquisition of PriceWaterhouseCoopers Consulting, and it is why our client teams are more specialized than ever in the competitive pressures and dynamics across more than 17 industries. This is so that we at IBM can clearly communicate with our customers, having equal insights about the business and technical implications of (for example):

• A very large telecommunications company planning for a next-genera-tion network. The new networking services and infrastructures have to give the company the ability to experiment with new, and most oftentimes very innovative, services, causing it to scale up (or down) and do so without heavy up-front capital investments.

• A very large retail outlet chain planning to use technologies that will let it “ see ” how much product is in transit, or on store shelves. All this will allow the chain to become more informed about buying patterns and respond to unforeseen events like inventory discrepancies, theft, security breaches, delays, and unpredicted sales spikes.

• A very large home and commercial appliances company trying to automate the management of a computing environment that includes 17,000 clients and 700 distributed servers.

• A very large moving and storage company launching a new division to focus on inventory management and home delivery of high-value consumer goods.

• A large food and beverage retail company needing an IT environment that will integrate worldwide operations while creating more flexibility in IT costs.

Our work at IBM with thousands of companies around the world tells us that leaders in all industries think about three things and the relationships among them. These three items of thought are:

1. The design of business models and processes

2. The implications for the supporting technology environments

3. The most efficient and effective ways to acquire and manage processes and technologies

One point to keep in mind as you read this book is that businesses will start this “On Demand” journey from any one of multiple entry points, and from anywhere within a business model, as seen in Figure P.1.

FIGURE P.1 Increasing flexibility and reducing risk is the key--business models, processes, infrastructure, plus fiancing and delivery.

As illustrated in Figure P.1, entry points can be obtained from many positions. There is no set way to engage in this transformation process other than to engage. IBM has indeed proven that on demand business is a profitable and world-class means in which to operate a business, and we have helped many of our largest customers to achieve this state of operation in many of the areas shown in the figure.

As the author of this book, it is my hope that you find reading this book as interesting and challenging as I did writing it. I spent countless hours (and air miles) just trying to summarize and legitimize in my mind exactly what best describes the technologies and strategies of on demand business. This effort, however, is not the reflection of any single mind. The technologies and strategies described in the book are composed and represented by a vast number of individuals, many of whom are deeply involved in worldwide IBM on demand business implementations.

The IBM Corporation has absolutely demonstrated that it has both the capabilities and the resources to be a role model for on demand business efficiencies. We at IBM invite any interested businesses with a desire to achieve these same efficiencies realized by an on demand business enterprise to reach out and contact us. We are anxious to share with you our insights and achievements so that you too can realize the tremendous benefits afforded by on demand business operations. On demand business is an achievement that does not necessarily benefit the IBM Corporation; rather, it benefits worldwide business enterprise operations, which will ultimately impact our cultural economies in many ways yet to be realized.

Finally, one overriding conclusion of this book is that on demand business (regardless of a company's mission) is an evolution of many bright minds, a refined language with a defined set of autonomic business practices, and a tremendous critical skills teaming environment, all which yield the result of redesigning business operations. This is a realization that many worldwide corporations have already experienced, are currently challenged with, or are about to engage in for the first time. On demand business is the new agenda for our new world industrial economy.

AN OPEN INVITATION FOR ON DEMAND BUSINESS COMPUTING AUTHOR DIALOGUE …

As the author of this book and a practitioner of many strategic implementations in on demand business global operations (and other distinguished engineering topics), I welcome your thoughts, proposals, challenges, and comments related to topics in this book. I can be contacted through the Prentice Hall PTR publications team at:

Prentice Hall PTR
c/o Craig Fellenstein (Author: On Demand Computing )
One Lake Street
Upper Saddle River, NJ USA 07458

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