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REVISIT OPEN SYSTEMS - Using Unix

As a rule, we at CIO believe that talented people faced with cutting-edge opportunities should go for them. Occasionally, however, ...

 

October 01, 2001CIO

As a rule, we at CIO believe that talented people faced with cutting-edge opportunities should go for them. Occasionally, however, the cutting edge looks a little too sharp and the yellow light goes on. That’s what happened when we first took up the topic of open systems ("Getting to Unix," Nov. 15, 1993).

At that time, opening a system meant moving it from a computing environment in which all the pieces?OS, applications and hardware?came from the same vendor to one in which products from several sources were mixed. And such systems usually were organized around Unix. On paper the advantages of open systems were obvious?IT departments gained more control and more efficient use of older equipment. But those advantages had been just as obvious during the previous decade, when the market preferred single-source systems and their benefits, such as integrated support, guaranteed compatibility and responsive vendor relationships.

But by 1993 something had changed. Managers were increasingly eager to break out of the protected environments that had served them until then. We thought that was a very serious step. We warned against unrealistic deadlines and skimpy budgets, and advised thorough research of vendor finances and technical backgrounds along with the double-checking of product claims. "There is just as much to selecting an open-systems vendor as there is to configuring most mainframe systems," we warned?a frightening observation considering that mainframe configuration would certainly have been one of the labors of Hercules, had Hercules worked in IT.

In retrospect we may have worried too much. The transition to open systems turned out to be less like having heart surgery and more like going to school on the first day: traumatic, perhaps, but certainly survivable. And managers were destined to get lots of practice. During the 1990s, operating systems, application interfaces and applications themselves would all become steadily more "open," moving to greater standardization and broader access. Operating systems went from Digital Equipment’s VMS to Microsoft’s Windows NT to?increasingly?Linux. Communications protocols converged on IP. Java became inescapable. Getting to openness turned out to be not a single step but a lifelong process.

One reason for the open move had to do with scale: As markets grow larger and more complex, the incentives for simplifying access between buyers and sellers grow as well. As information networks incorporate more players and devices, interoperability issues become more critical. During the ’90s, both those trends helped make standardization issues a routine part of the IT manager’s job. (While the term open is not synonymous with standards there is considerable overlap. Open usually refers to the large fraction of standards that are either not the property of a single company or have been made freely available by their owners.)

 
 
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WHITE PAPERS

VMware vSphere (TM) and Intel (R) Xeon (R) Processor 5500 Series

The VMware vSphere (TM) and Intel Xeon processor 5500 series provides the ROI needed to succeed in an on-demand business environment.
 

Faster, Easier, more Effective IT Infrastructure

Business continuity with low administration and maintenance costs. Can you make it happen? This Oracle business brief explains how mid-sized can improve performance by creating an IT infrastructure that makes working faster, easier and more effective.
 

ERP at the Speed of Light

Without the right strategy and tools, implementation acceleration carries the risk of abbreviated end user training and change management, over-engineering of business processes, and other problems that can lead to higher over-all cost of ownership and the erosion of business benefit.
 

a Reliable and Powerful, and Affordable IT Infrastructure

This whitepaper provides an overview of the challenges midsize organizations face, and how Oracle products can help them overcome those hurdles.
 

Maximum Efficiency Gains with Virtualization

Learn best practices to optimize your infrastructure and operations department and gain the most from virtualization.
 

Manage Virtualization Initiatives

Learn how you can better manage virtualization initiatives to recognize this technologys maximum value.
 

WEBCASTS

Webcast with Dan Vesset: Investing in Business Analytics Technology

What exactly is business analytics and why should you care? Dan Vesset of IDC and Gaurav Verma of SAS answer this a...
 

Capitalize on Your SAP Content

After 18 years of partnership and over 3,000 successful customer deployments, Open Text has become SAP's premier pa...
 

Enterprise Cloud Computing: Ready for Primetime?

The progression toward enterprise cloud computing is happening today, as industry leaders deploy technologies that ...
 

Preparing Your Business Services for the Future

Would you trust your network monitoring tools enough to know when something is truly halting a business service? Wh...
 

Enterprise System Management Challenges in Big Organizations with Eli Almog

In this Podcast with Eli Almog, Corporate Architect in BMC's CTO Office, discusses how IT managers can know when it...
 

BSM in the Field, Practical Insights from Peter Armaly

Have you thought about BSM, but haven't quite gotten the buy-in you need? Get down and dirty with BSM installations...
 

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