InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

The technology pendulum has swung from centralized to distributed computing, from dumb terminals to graphics and objects running on complex desktop systems. Enterprise computing will eventually be ruled by moderation as the pendulum moves back to the middle.

Visualize a centralized architecture combined with the power of the graphical interface and a simple desktop or even handheld user device. Think about simplifying the desktop, migrating complexity into a centralized controlled environment and minimizing weak links in the enterprise. Here's what Gartner Group, Tolly Group, and Zona Research tell us about our system balance sheets:

• Approximately 80% of IS support budgets are expended at the desktop.
• Desktop deployment, maintenance, and upgrades are constant, and administrators can only service 40 to 100 PCs at a time.
• Skilled IT professionals are becoming more difficult to find and retain as unfilled jobs rise to more than 800,000 this year.
• Costs will increase as the PC becomes "fatter" (loaded with more software and resources).
• The life cycle of a PC, including acquisition, maintenance, and upgrades, costs the typical enterprise $3,000 to $10,000 a year per PC.

• Empowers companies to reclaim 57% to 80% of costs associated with enterprise desktop computing.
• Decreases staffing requirements by enabling administrators to manage 500-plus users, primarily through the concentration of up to 200 users per application server.
• Reduces liability at the desktop and creates a zero-desktop-administration situation.
• Introduces time-to-value benefits for deployments and software version control.
• Improves performance of centralized enterprise apps, particularly those delivered over WAN and low-bandwidth connections.
• Provides gateway connectivity for supporting heterogeneous systems on the back end while fostering a thin-client device on the desktop.
• Provides the company with an architecture well-suited for long-term expansion, and flexibility without extensive system changes.

Gartner Group expects that 80% of desktops will be replaced by 2005, particularly for "noncreative" users such as call-center staffers, contract and part-time employees, factory and clerical workers, customer service representatives, and retail workers. It's interesting that Bill Gates says his biggest concern over Windows 2000 server products is that companies might choose alternative devices for computing instead of Windows desktop operating systems. Don't be too quick to draw negative conclusions from Gates' remarks. Terminal services present a flexible solution that allows processing to execute locally for knowledge workers who need the power of a workstation, while most noncreative employees access centralized enterprise applications regardless of location or function.

Companies that have successfully deployed this strategy note that server-based computing isn't a simple, out-of-the-box undertaking. System planning and design, piloting the technology, and thorough testing are critical to any server-based project. It is also best to engage a technology partner with a specialty in planning, designing, and implementing server-based computing. These are the keys to getting it right in your enterprise.