Building the Road to a Real-Time Infrastructure

The vision of a real-time IT infrastructure offered by industry analysts and IT vendors is compelling. If implemented, it promises to deliver a number of highly-prized enterprise value propositions: services will be provided to the business with the same availability as utilities, such as electricity and water; cost reductions will be achieved through virtualization and consolidation; and autonomic behavior will be pushed down to all levels of the infrastructure. IT executives are challenged to create a real-time IT infrastructure to serve as the foundation for secure business operations. They are asked to provide the ability to closely monitor and quickly respond to key indicators of emerging opportunities - and threats. They must facilitate rapid changes in business strategy, while delivering high quality business services, containing costs, and managing risk.