Tech Perspective: Server consolidation

Have you or are you planning to reorganize a Windows NT/2000 network?

Our organization is approaching this issue with caution and trepidation - any loss of business functionality due to an "upgrade" appears to users and customers as a step backwards. Until we can determine that incorporating W2K servers into our current network can be done *without* business interruption, WinNT will be the OS.

Do you believe that the Windows 2000 OS can effectively support mixed workloads? Do you think that IT organizations can successfully consolidate mixed concurrent workloads onto a single NT/2000 server?

The simple answer to both of these questions is yes. However, in my humble opinion, consolidating "mixed concurrent workloads onto a singleNT/2000 server" is a step back towards the mainframe world, and akin to putting all of your eggs into one basket. This approach presents obvious tradeoffs in maintenance and costs.

Not so obvious nor well-determined is the impact on scalability.That is - or should be - a key issue for every business. The future promises growth in demand for information. Businesses must position themselves for the ability to respond proactively to such growth. Maintaining fewer servers at the risk of compromising scalability is *not* the answer.