IBM 440 manual Giving users better services, Regaining flexibility, Avoid floor space constraints

A single point of control allows enterprises to:

–Reduce or eliminate department operational costs

–Reduce some software licenses

–Reduce number of systems, disk storage costs

–Reduce maintenance charges

–Avoid multiple copies of the same application on distributed systems

–Reduce owner operational costs

–Offer better availability of service

–Improve systems management

–Have better version control management

–Have better software distribution

–Reduce risk and increase security

￿Giving users better services

With a consolidated infrastructure, end users can count on round-the-clock service, seven days a week. The response time is much better than with an overly distributed environment, and the data is more easily accessible while being highly protected. The control procedures are simpler, while security becomes even higher. And information sharing is improved, giving end users increased data consistency. The availability of service is improved mainly due to a reduction in the time needed to communicate between clients and servers in a single location.

￿Regaining flexibility

The standardization of procedures, releases, and servers also makes it easier to install new application software, for example, Internet and intranet, electronic commerce, and so on. In today’s fast moving environment, computing resource consolidation enables a trouble-free upgrade of the information system and less costly adaptation to organization or environment changes. Enterprises can react more quickly to market changes, since storage is readily available and can easily be reallocated.

￿Avoid floor space constraints

While a small server may be easily fit into a closet, as compute demands increase, enterprises find that suitable floor space is hard to find for proliferating small servers. The solution is a central site outfitted with appropriate power, cooling, access to communications links, and so on, and populated with more powerful systems, each giving more performance in the same footprint.

￿Reduction of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

There are several costs associated with server consolidation, including:

–Hardware costs — new servers and infrastructure, upgrades

–Software costs — fewer software licenses are required with fewer servers

–Disruption costs — migration, change management

58 IBM ^xSeries 440 Planning and Installation Guide