Summary: Organizations today face two major challenges: deployment of an increasingly rich service mix and managing the associated massive base of computing platforms. In this article, discover a new(ish) means of viewing a key component of the organizational architecture—treating operating systems themselves as individual managed objects.
Few can argue with the success of modern computing technology. For better or worse, the global proliferation of computing access is historically without precedent. So too are the consequences; witness the advent of spam and online fraud as more and more people go online. However, there are a great many positive aspects to global computerization, such as access to information and a well-informed, flexible global workforce.
Underpinning the success of modern computing is the not-so-well-known data center in which vast numbers of servers and other hardware reside. The demand for computing services has grown to such an extent that many data centers are rapidly approaching (or have already exceeded) physical limits in relation to size and power consumption.
