2010/2011 technology decision making must focus like never before on understanding the risks and complexities associated with integration: and specifically, the integration between technical infrastructure (servers, storage, and networks), applications (the VM, the O/S, the databases), the infrastructure management layer, and the business.
So it's important to be able to determine the value of integration. And both the vendors and buyers have different but related perspectives on the value.
For a vendor, the "value" points are where investments in products and services are likely to pay back and not "lock-out" customer environments. And for the buyer, the value partly justifies the expense with less risk and complexity - fewer platforms, fewer interfaces to support, fewer silo'd skill sets to support.
For more on the value of integration, see The Value of the VMware Integration Journey as a target case.
Presenting mid-term research results at SecureWorld March 23, 2010.
Action Item: Look at the infrastructure necessary for the expansion of cloud computing as an example. How would you place a value on the level of integration between a virtual o/s, storage, server, and security components of this infrastructure? What are the most important functions/features demanding integration? How would you quantify the integration value?
Footnotes: