Virtualisation - key to the use of ICT assets

While there are signs of improving economic conditions, companies are still closely monitoring their operations and looking to do more with the resources already at their disposal. IT budgets are invariably being scrutinised and companies are looking at ways of moving capital expenditure to operating expenses to meet the same business goals. AT&T’s Fred Girouard* looks at cost-effective IT solutions which can be deployed seamlessly across multiple locations to meet these needs.

As CIOs continue to re-evaluate the way they manage their current resources, the outcome is likely to be a shift in their procurement strategies, favouring flexible capital-light approaches such as utility computing and managed IT services. At the same time, with a greater emphasis placed on doing business more efficiently, there is likely to be a renewed focus on communications technologies with the potential to enhance productivity and accelerate business processes through unified communications and video conferencing.

Utility computing is part of a broader trend that is seeing computing resources increasingly being distributed to individuals and organisations remotely. In simple terms, enterprises only pay for what they need.

Utility computing can take many forms. Telecom companies such as AT&T offer enterprise-class, value-added and managed services through internet data centres, allowing multinationals (MNCs) to flexibly scale up and down their computing, storage or web-hosting capacities as the need arises.

Most enterprises have seasonal business cycles. Their need for computing resources can fluctuate or be unpredictable. By providing metered, on-demand IT resources, utility computing allows companies to save costs, avoid having to make large capital outlays on IT infrastructure and squeeze a better return on investment from their existing infrastructure. These on-demand services could prove useful, for example, to online retailers gearing up for holiday sales, employers with annual open enrolment for employee benefits or game publishers running online games.

Utility computing is certainly not a new concept, but what is making this area of innovation increasingly viable for MNCs has been the proliferation of storage and server virtualisation. For most MNCs with globally distributed operations, the building and management of multiple data centres is probably the single-most complex, resource-draining and expensive component of the IT environment.

Virtualisation has become the key to making the most efficient use of those assets. It allows MNCs to gain seamless access to alternative resources, such as utility computing services, over the network. The result is an IT environment with higher availability and scalability.

Unified communications is one area that seems particularly compelling, given its potential for creating a seamless collaboration platform. Unified communications aims to integrate all forms of communications and has been assisted by the migration of communications to the network. As the adoption of internet-based telephony and videoconferencing has grown along with web-based collaborations tools, an opportunity has emerged for the development of a common platform on which voice-, video- and text-based communications tools can all reside together to create one user experience.

By integrating these disparate communications mediums, enterprises can reduce communications-based disruptions and enhance collaboration among workers, leading to greater productivity.

The challenge for managed IT service providers will be to develop solutions which are tailored to fit the needs of different industry verticals, customisable for individual enterprises, and tightly integrated into business processes, while adhering to an IT best practice framework.

We expect managed IT service providers to move up the value chain to become the trusted IT partner to MNCs over the longer term, through the managed and hosted services market.

* Fred Girouard is the Vice President and Managing Director, AT&T Australia and New Zealand. Girouard manages AT&T’s sales and business development, along with all support business functions such as service delivery, after-sales support, marketing, finance and human resources.

His career with AT&T spans 23 years. He transferred from the US and assumed his position at AT&T in September 2007.