Buying into change [IT Procurement]

In the relatively brief span of its existence, IT has proven itself to be a cyclical business: the trend towards the re-centralisation of the 1980s and 1970s raises organisational issues some of whose solutions may be found by studying the lessons of IT history. Parallel to the trend towards server and storage virtualisation using large processing units, there is a drive toward utility computing, which itself harks back to timesharing services of the central systems of yore. The utility computing is most prevalent in smaller enterprises: its implementation is urged by the recognition that IT is not a core competence in most cases, and by a corresponding desire to avoid the logistical and financial complexities wrought by widescale virtualisation. This requirement has not been overlooked by the major vendors of virtualisation technology, and of utility services, with HP (HewlettPackard) particularly having made it almost a cause celebre to apprise its customers to the potential benefits of updating their whole approach to IT financing to exploit the growing opportunities for flexible procurement and so-called 'pay-as-you-go computing'.