Spent an hour viewing the video of a fascinating presentation by Paul Strassmann, you can download it here, and hat tip to Nick Carr, and it was an hour well spent. Some very interesting ideas. (By the way, it is quite a large file and you'll need QuickTime to view it) The main thrust of the talk is the idea that client server computing is being replaced by something that is akin to Google. Strassmann identifies Google as a harbinger of this shift in computing, away from isolated islands to vast, connected and interoperable networks, similar to the Internet but more secured. Several of the ideas in the presentation caught my attention. One of the most jarring was Strassmann's assertion that 50% of the cost of a system is 'Infrastructure'. This is not only the machines but everything required to maintain, patch, back them up and keep them humming. I have often written about the Total Cost of Ownership but even I was floored by this. "Too many consultants," was another remark Strassman made. Obviously this can't last. IT departments are struggling under the weight of this. Large companies have started to really question their investments in these systems. The bigger problem that I see in the SME, small and medium enterprise market, is when companies outgrow the off the shelf accounting package and they want a more integrated, robust system. They think that they can have that big step up in functionality without losing their casual attitude about IT, systems, data and information. It's one thing to run a little accounting package on a desktop or small server. But when you start installing operating systems, databases and applications on a corporate server it's time to get serious. You will need trained professionals to help you keep the system up and running. You will need to employ or contract a specialized skill set. You will also need to start taking the exercise a lot more seriously. This is why Strassmann is right about the 50% for infrastructure and maintenance. The applications may only cost you $25,000 but you will spend at least 50% of that every year just in patching, troubleshooting and other non-value-added activity. About the rest of the video I will comment several more times. I will say though that I was especially interested to hear Strassmann say that the Internet as we now know it is a faint model of the future computing network that we will one day use. Amen. | 
