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The Bloor Perspective: 2002/2003 straw poll, mobility versus privacy and Platform Intelligence
In this week's package of analysis, the Bloor Research team assess the outlook for the next 12 months in IT, companies sleepwalking into mobility and more grid advances...

By Bloor Research

Published: Monday 23 December 2002

Many analysts have rightly stated 2002 may have been the worst year ever for the still youthful IT industry. Any perceived green shoots of recovery have been mis-sightings at best.

IDC have observed that the industry suffered a negative growth rate of just over 2.3 per cent giving a decline of 3 per cent over the past two years. Unlike other sectors, IT has never experienced any significant downturn previously.

Has a new perspective developed towards IT spend? The industry is still suffering from the internet hangover. It is awash with failed and debilitated IT projects. Some of this arose from the indulgent overspend, both in Europe and in the US.

Probably there has been a change in the mindset towards technology. It is now important purely for the purpose of the business, not as an end in itself. Certainly there is a new caution. For example AMR Research has reported companies have spent only 92 per cent of their IT budgets this year. IT spend for 2003 is projected to rise by about 0.2 per cent. So, overall 2003 is forecast to be as flat as 2002.

Specific upturns in spend for 2003 are reported by the Meta Group, and include increased spending on PC hardware. Looking around the world, the Asia Pacific region outside Japan is showing an upturn in terms of shipments from major suppliers. The same is reported from Europe and the Middle East. Markets such as wireless, LAN hardware, web services and Linux are expected to continue to grow but not boom.

Sustainable growth will return in the longer term but there has been a change in attitude towards IT spend. It is unlikely that 'double digit boom growth' will ever return.

*Mobility v privacy*

It has been said companies are currently "sleepwalking into mobility". They have not thought through or planned the changes to business processes or the impact those processes will have on relationships in the working environment. Currently in most enterprises, mobile technology and its uses are tagged onto existing technology infrastructure.

What will the impact be when so-called anytime and anywhere networks enable employees to be linked by wireless devices to corporate networks, emails, video conference facilities and applications? Certainly, there will be different rules for managing and monitoring the performance of the workforce. Currently, even a workforce which is termed 'mobile' is in effect location-based. The time will come when employers will be able to disperse their workforce to where they are needed for greatest benefit.

To achieve the ultimate level of mobility, employers will need to know exactly where the workforce is located at any time. This raises the issue of employee privacy and intrusiveness into their lives. When is it legitimate to contact the employee?

Current levels of mobile communications already intrude - albeit with acceptance by most employees - into their travel time from home to work and their leisure time. The degree and level of intrusion needs to be agreed and determined, ideally at a contract of employment stage, before judicial interference and interpretation occurs as a result of employee litigation on the privacy issue.

Equally important is the role and form of management of a truly mobile workforce which has no attachment to a location let alone a desk or office. At one level, mobility should increase efficiency and productivity. Tasks can be completed in less time. The onus to act on information more quickly will remove any excuses for failure to contact or act on information on a timely basis.

This will instil more self-discipline and self-reliance but not at a total cost of addiction to technology and the stress that can lead from that. Access technology should not be a companion to accompany the employee to bed. Boundaries of intrusion need to be drawn up and respected.

*Grid*

Platform Computing, known for distributed resource management and grid computing software, has recently made some announcements that extend its market presence.

At first glance, it looks like Platform - traditionally strong in target verticals in the commercial space - has shifted focus to research-oriented markets. Recent partnerships with Dell in the high performance computing space and SGI in 'visual area networking', as well as the formation of Platform Computing Federal Inc., a new division focused on the government market, seem to indicate a trend in that direction.

However, after looking more closely, it appears Platform is leveraging its strength in commercial grids to address commercial applications within these technical segments. For example, HPC solutions, traditionally associated with the scientific and research community, is now being used in Platform's target verticals - finance, life sciences and oil and gas exploration. In these industries, compute-intensive applications are executed more quickly, providing more accurate decision-making. By the same token, many government applications are starting to resemble those in the commercial space.

Platform Federal will develop and customise grid software solutions for the US federal, state and local governments. Dedicated sales, support, professional services and programmes staff will be headquartered in Maryland. President Rene Copeland, having held executive positions previously at Cray, IBM, and SGI, will focus on the growing need for HPC solutions in government.

Platform's latest product announcement, Platform Intelligence, allows IT professionals to examine the utilisation and performance of distributed computing environments. By providing access to this information, they can proactively manage computing resources, improving performance and efficiency.

As grids become larger this type of management tool becomes a necessity. Platform Intelligence integrates with existing systems management frameworks and can be tailored to a customer's specific requirements. Platform's goal is to integrate with 'everything in the world', providing a complete picture of IT resources.

One of the most interesting applications for Platform Intelligence may be related to 'on demand' computing where resources are virtualised, and users are charged based on resource usage. Platform customers aren't using Platform Intelligence for this purpose today but Platform sees this as a natural evolution of the solution, where Platform Intelligence is used to determine usage for financial purposes and resource planning.

Based on this news, Platform extends the scope of its commercial grid offering in a couple significant ways. First, Platform Intelligence gives a strong management tool offering in the 'IT analytics' space and a new strategic direction. Second, recent HPC announcements, combined with the launch of Platform Federal, will leverage Platform's HPC expertise into new enterprise and government applications.

** Bloor Research is a leading independent analyst organisation in Europe. You can find out more at http://www.bloor-research.com or by emailing mail@bloor-research.com