Abstract

For many years organizations allocated considerable amounts of money, manpower, and time to IT equipment procurement and maintenance. However, very few companies have been able to optimize IT resources. When the economy was enjoying strong growth, leeway was allowed for a certain degree of IT inefficiency. However, with enterprises exercising more rigorous control over such expenditures at present, server vendors must offer solutions that do not require a major increase in procurement in order to secure more business from corporate customers. Computing on demand is expected to be an ideal match for this more conservative environment.  

However, besides overcoming the complexity of integrating different software and hardware platforms, service provider competitiveness will also be affected by the degree of control exercised over last mile connections. In addition, given that service providers will control the infrastructure used for computing on demand, they will need to ensure data security. Another key factor will be the extent to which service providers are able to offer tailor-made service, rather than forcing customers to adapt to a "one size fits all" service.  

At a time when the business environment is becoming more complex and enterprise requirements for computing power are increasing, computing on demand offers a stable, economical source of IT resources. Furthermore, by adopting computing on demand companies can reduce the risk of overspending or under spending on IT as a result of inaccurate demand forecasts. If service providers maintain a degree of control over last mile connections, assuage customers' security concerns, as well as integrate different software and hardware platforms, computing on demand will likely be very successful.