Web Application Severs
We see four essential characteristics for the on demand environment:
Integrated
The key to the castle. Data must maintain its integrality and will require transaction processing of the highest order across custom applications throughout the enterprise. Instead of integrating “vertically” (within the operating system of their computer), applications will integrate “horizontally”, freeing them form the restrictive underpinning of their underlying infrastructure.
Virtualized
Companies will be able to access and pay for computing the same way they get electricity, telecommunications or water-by the flip of switch, the push of a button, with the turn of a knob … or the click of a mouse. When traffic or transactions spike, capacity can be added automatically over the net. When things are quiet, your company pays less, and capital is freed up to invest back into your business.
Open
With most companies already having made huge investments in technology, the ability to “rip and replace” an entire system is not an option. Open technical interfaces and agree-upon standards are the only realistic way the many business processes, applications and devices will be able to connect.
Autonomic
The term autonomic computing is form the body’s autonomic nervous system. The same way we take for granted the body’s management of breathing, digestion and fending off viruses, companies will one day take for granted the network’s ability to manage, repair and protect itself.