Server Consolidation

Sometimes, the sheer power and availability of an optical network can be the catalyst for change in its own right.

For many organisations, computer server deployments have grown exponentially over the years. Every time a new application was required or a new workgroup was established, a new server or two would be required to support them.

At first, everyone praised the flexibility of the new paradigm. Then people started counting the cost. Of duplicated assets. Of unused assets. Of support. Of software licensing. Of downtime. Of lost productivity.

However, there was little choice. The ideal scenario might have been to have one "universal" computer at headquarters, supporting all applications and databases (The first chief executive of IBM once notoriously argued that by the mid nineties all of the worlds computing would be done on one single IBM computer)

Traditional computer networks would never support such a paradigm however. Too expensive, not reliable enough, not powerful enough and certainly not flexible enough. At least that WAS the case. Prior to the Optically Enabled Enterprise.

Now, for many large organisations, the combined catalysts for embarking on the optical journey are the improvements in operational efficiency and the reduction in operational costs that can be realised. These are achieved by consolidating distributed server and storage resources back to centralised locations, bringing them under common control and management and then using optical networking services to distribute services back to the enterprise. Without performance penalty and without reduction in flexibility.