And it will continue as long as the "IT executives" buy snake oil, forget that reliability is strategy and design instead of tools, toys, and cheap labor, etc. Sorry, not much sympathy from me today - seen too many companies and corporations totally lost today when it comes to reliability, capacity and security.

30+ years designing and building 24x7 systems, often global, has proven, at least for me, that no money, vendor tool or toy, or adding to headcount can replace good strategy and design. And always gets more expensive and more difficult on long run! The world is full of examples - why not to learn from those?

Maybe next time use an experienced architect instead of some dog and pony show brochure, "expert" writeup from a vendor supported research, a nice presentation from some marketing person or a PC magazine when making decisions? Might give better sleep?