Taking the Service Entrance

There's nothing new about IT professionals acting as service providers for their employers. In many organizations, they're even ask to bid competitively against external managed services. Lately, the gap has closed even more, as companies join a worldwide movement toward "Web services."

The creation of Web services, wherein applications are delivered to users via browser, has spawned support of service delivery platforms (SDPs) by all the leading system and database vendors. SDPs are combinations of software that allow organizations of all kinds to offer Web services to their clientele whether that means carrier customers or in-house colleagues.

Because SDPs involve so much software, IT pros have plenty of expertise. In a Light Reading Insider report earlier this year, "Service Delivery Platforms: The Next Grand Design," analyst Caroline Chappell states:

Enterprise system vendors are taking a keen interest in the Web services angle. To varying degrees, Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) are involved in specific strategies for creating Web services building blocks. They are aided and abetted by database vendors like BEA Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAS) and Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL).These and other suppliers are developing SOAs (service-oriented architectures), a key element of SDPs that includes software aimed at simplifying application development in IP networks. (See a range of articles on SOA efforts in our sister publication, Next-Gen Data Center Forum, including: Oracle Sets Sights on SOAs, BEA Picks $200M Plum, Oracle Spends $900M for i-flex Stake, and System Vendors Sight SOA.)

There are many other aspects to creating Web services for enterprise use. There's a role for tools that accelerate the performance of Web applications that use eXtensible Markup Language (XML). (See Storage Vet Dances the Xambala, Intel Absorbs XML Startup, and NetScaler Acquired by Citrix.) There's a need for products that help create more efficient Web-based applications. (See Nexaweb Names CEO.) And the Compute Appliance launched earlier this year by Azul Systems Inc. heralds a new way to offload Java processing entirely. (See Azul to Launch Virtual Java Box and Azul Pegs Pegasus.)

Web services also encompass the consolidation and streamlining of data center kit, including servers and storage. This is the where blade servers come in. (see Insider: SAN Blades Controversial.) Indeed, all the major blade server suppliers have distinct models geared to managed service providers (in or out of house), and it looks as if Sun's new carrier-ready Netra blade server will be released before its promised "enterprise" line. (See Sun Beams on ATCA.)

Another element in Web services is security. Here, the list of innovations is seemingly endless, but a recent example is the content security appliance from StreamShield Networks Ltd., which is the basis for an emerging managed service from U.K. ISP intY Ltd. (See StreamShield Pressed Into Service.)

These and other developments herald a major shift in the way IT managers think about resources. A new model that features services, not applications, demands the setting aside of any remaining traces of the old hierarchical data processing approach. That should involve no great effort for ITers involved in SANs and networked storage. After all, that's in part what storage networking is all about.— Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch