ZDNet UK

CBS INTERACTIVE UK BUSINESS SITES:
BNET UK
silicon.com
ZDNet.co.uk

You are here: ZDNet.co.uk > News > Hardware

Server platforms Toolkit

Will utility computing reshape the way people do business?

Martin LaMonica CNET News.com

Published: 21 Jun 2005 12:20 BST

Other executives said that Carr's prediction that utility computing will become the industry norm is predicated on improper assumptions about the complexity of computing or blind spots in his knowledge.

In particular, Carr downplays the competitive advantage that custom-built software applications can bring, compared to hosted offerings, said Eric Newcomer, chief technology officer at software maker Iona Technologies.

"Computers do not work without software. And unlike electricity or other raw technology, software is designed for direct human interaction," Newcomer said. "Overall, Carr has taken a very interesting analogy with some truth to it to an implausible extreme."

Meanwhile, readers who responded to a news story on Carr's "End of Corporate Computing" piece, voiced a mix of opinions.

"The notion of the computer as computing device has been obsoleted by the Internet. All of the real action these days is in using the computer as a *communications* device," wrote one reader.

Others said that utility computing has yet to prove indispensable to corporate customers.

"I'd suspect that IBM's old mainframe philosophy is behind this drive to utility computing. It's very easy to bill by the month and provide premium services by the hour," wrote one reader. However, he questioned the need for these services: "I'm not aware of any pressing need that can only be met by Utility Computing."

Data centres obsolete?
To frame his discussion in the End of Corporate Computing, Carr uses the analogy of the electricity industry and its own development over a century ago.

Carr argues that corporate computing data centres are analogous to private generators, which were used in the early days of electricity. These power sources burned fuel to generate electricity for a single site, such as a department store or a wealthy person's home. (Tycoon JP Morgan was the first residential customer in New York City in the late 1800s.)