Assure availability for the digital nervous system - Industry Trend or Event

NT technology allows IT managers to adopt a zero-tolerance downtime policy.

When server availability ranks as a fundamental computing requirement, assured-availability technologies--those that deliver 99.999% uptime--should be the first choice from a range of product options. A risk avoidance, zero-tolerance for downtime offers protection from the costs and consequences of unpredictable downtime, and gives companies the ability to analyze, predict and rationally accept risk, as warranted by an application's availability requirements. Jeopardizing a business by first selecting anything other than guaranteed uptime means exposure to the consequences of system failures.

With today's technology, IT managers can adopt a zero-tolerance for downtime policy using NT (network termination) technology. These technologies ensure that organizations can build systems with the highest level of availability, the lowest total cost of ownership and the fastest time to deployment, while remaining on a single operating system, from desktop to data center.

In order to rationalize the risks associated with a critical dependency on computing, new expressions have come to represent different levels of system and application fortitude. "Availability" and "reliability" have come to mean risk acceptance and the desire to avoid the costs and repercussions of system failures.

Assured-availability technologies are designed for computing environments that cannot afford downtime and apply to situations when an outage would mean one or more of the following:

* lost revenue;

* threats to life and limb;

* excessive expense;

* liability exposure;

* lost productivity;

* damage to assets;

* customer dissatisfaction;

* violations of laws or regulations; and

* career damage.

When confronted with the possibility of these consequences, organizations historically opted for their own assured-availability solutions for these mission-critical operations. Today, increased dependence on standards-based computing necessarily widens the category "mission critical" to include applications as mundane as e-mail.

Even the hint of such consequences gambles with the enterprise's welfare. Vendors proposing anything other than assured availability first and foremost expose themselves to competitive attacks based on other operating systems, as well as support burdens, de-installations and, at the very least, unfavorable publicity.

To satisfy the enterprise's requirements of mission-critical computing systems, all availability technologies must also preserve and enhance the value and benefits of the standard operating environment. Typically, these benefits include: 24x7 global support, uptime guarantees, global consulting, standardAPI (application programming interface) development, ease of deployment and use, simple maintenance and servicing, and low-cost management.

Assured-availability technologies must deliver the following capabilities transparently to users, without human intervention, programming or administration:

* nonstop processing;

* continuous data access;

* uninterrupted connectivity;

* disaster tolerance; and

* constant performance.

In addition, these solutions must:

* rely on configurations of standard, off-the-shelf server components;

* run shrink-wrapped application software and off-the-shelf NT;

* continue computing through all single points of component failure and repair;

* automatically assimilate new components to restore full redundancy; and

* mask transient operating system failures.

Technologies that cannot deliver the same benefits as those that define assured availability are classified in a lower category, and are subject to limitations in applicability, return on investment, interoperability or manageability.

Increasing dependence on information systems will only accentuate demand for the sort of "digital dial tone" delivered by assured-availability systems. Therefore, from a competitive perspective, with products available today, this positioning strengthens NT as a server platform.

By delivering 99.999% uptime, NT-based assured-availability solutions preempt criticism of NT's reliability and availability. Next, promoting a range of availability solutions that do not require proprietary hardware or software, with nonstop service at the high end of the range, puts competitors on the defensive by forcing a like response.

Finally, NT-based assured-availability solutions give credence to this extraordinary claim: customers can exploit a rich software library, standard API development, simple testing, widely available expertise, uncomplicated deployment, universal management tools and easy administration, to build systems with the highest level of availability and the lowest total cost of ownership, all on a single operating system, from desktop to data center. For Microsoft and its partners, an NT-based assured-availability solution put competitors on the defensive and accelerated the adoption and implementation of Windows-based systems.

Two points are worth noting. Actual risks and consequences associated with system failure--especially for new and expanded applications--may well exceed initial perceptions. Second, large-scale applications will rely on a mix of availability technologies, techniques and best practices, based on the complex of variables and constraints governing the project and deployment. Taking chances by ignoring risk can lead to unanticipated and potentially catastrophic consequences of system failure.

Accepting anything other than a zero-tolerance policy in today's computing environment offers no discernable value over the long haul. Though the prices and reliability of standard hardware and off-the-shelf software have improved drastically, there is still no justification for the costs incurred by unexpected system failures. Given the burgeoning dependence on computing, taking chances with availability means that the most important, most sensitive applications will be identified when they fail--after the damage has been done.

Given the circumstances of the market and the industry, when it comes to positioning availability technologies for today's "digital nervous system," an ounce of assured-availability prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Anderson is director of marketing and strategic alliances for Marathon Technologies Corp., Boxborough, MA.

www.marathontechnologies.com

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