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Yankee Group: Utility Computing A Real, Early-Stage Phenomenon

Enterprises are rightfully concerned that utility computing is only hype with little substance, because there are so few referenceable implementations. The Yankee Group report, "Recent Case Studies Find Value in Utility Computing," presents four case studies on utility computing installations at a range of customers. The Yankee Group profiles an implementation of an HP solution at R.C. Willey, a home furnishings retailer; an IBM solution at NStar, a regional electric utility; a VERITAS solution at Dartmouth College; and a utility storage environment at Infinity Pharmaceutical. These case studies cover the cost, business value, expectations and lessons learned for users.

What the case studies found is a compelling business value. Contrary to what much of the reporting and literature indicates, business value is not primarily derived from variable, low-cost pricing. In the cases interviewed, business value is derived from increased flexibility that allows the enterprise to very rapidly change its IT infrastructure to match a rapidly changing business.

"There are two common drivers for early adopters of utility computing," said Andrew Efstathiou, Yankee Group Business & IT Services program manager. "One group of customers is predominantly focused on achieving better financial efficiency from their IT investments. A second group of early customers appear to be more attracted to the advanced management achieved by various forms of utility computing. Early utility computing deployments run the gamut between pilot programs that involve just a few hardware and software tools to complete outsourced data center environments."