In a recent newsletter we expressed our opinion that virtualization and cloud computing change everything. In that newsletter we focused on some of the technology and management changes that are associated with virtualization and cloud computing. In this newsletter we will discuss one of the ways that virtualization changes how IT organizations buys software tools.
In a recent newsletter we expressed our opinion that virtualization and cloud computing change everything. In that newsletter we focused on some of the technology and management changes that are associated with virtualization and cloud computing. In this newsletter we will discuss one of the ways that virtualization changes how IT organizations buy software tools.
To put this discussion in context it is important to realize that most IT organizations have an architecture or strategy for how they will design their WAN, their LAN and their security. In fact, the majority of IT organizations have an architecture or strategy for most of the components of IT. An exception to that statement is management. It is somewhat rare that we come across an IT organization that has an architecture for how it will manage on an end-to-end basis covering all, or at least most of the components of IT.
A majority of large enterprises already have manager-of-manager (MoM) type management solutions from the major vendors; for example CA, IBM, HP or BMC. In most cases, these solutions were acquired after a rigorous analysis. The traditional buying process that was associated with the acquisition of those solutions had four key steps. Those steps were analyze, buy, install and get value.
In part because they already have MoM-type solutions, in part because they don’t have a strategy for how they will manage IT on an end-to-end basis, and in part due to the tight economic constraints facing most IT organizations, today it is common for IT organizations to only buy management software when they have a well-defined problem to solve. In addition, a number of vendors of management tools offer a software-only or virtualized version. One such vendor, Apparent Networks, allows IT organizations to download and use their software for free. According to Jim Melvin, president and chief marketing officer at Apparent Networks, if an IT organization downloads their software and it solves an important problem, then the organization usually buys the tool.
While this all makes sense, it does indicate that in many cases the buying process is fundamentally changing. Whereas IT organizations typically did a rigorous analysis prior to acquiring a MoM-type solution, they will do much less of an analysis before downloading a tool that comes, at least initially, at no cost. Also, whereas in the traditional environment, the next steps in the buying process were buy, install, get value, in the virtualized environment the next steps are install, get value and then possibly buy.
It is not just the acquisition of management tools that is being impacted by virtualization. Future newsletters will describe how virtualization is changing how IT organizations acquire application delivery controllers and WAN optimization controllers.
