INDUSTRY

In a free Xtalks webinar on Wednesday, April 10, 2007, 1:00 - 3:00pm EDT, Nicholas Carr, former Executive Editor, Harvard Business Review, Author of "Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corosion of Competitive Advantage", Bert Armijo, Co-founder and VP Product Management, 3tera, Inc., and Todd Abrams, President and COO, Layered Technologies will consider grid and utility computing and the changes it is bringing to the data centers today. www.xtalks.com/gridcomputing0704.ashx Utility computing has sparked imaginations. Eliminating capital investment, provisioning resources dynamically, and paying as you go for what you actually use are very attractive features. Recovering automatically from hardware failures alone could save many enterprises millions. Many considered this utopian concept unobtainable, but academics have operated this way for over a decade through the use of grid computing. Unfortunately, the benefits of grid computing were limited to technical computations and required code specifically written to run on the grid. Mainstream business applications have been locked out. Until now. Recent advances in grid technology, like 3tera's AppLogic, have enabled the first true utility computing services. For the first time, companies can build, deploy and scale complex online systems without owning or operating a single server. More importantly, this simplification allows enterprises to regain control of their IT platforms, enabling them to accelerate business critical updates features additions in support of revenue objectives. SaaS and Web 2.0 companies, along with forward looking enterprises, are already starting to take advantage of this new business model. Gone are the time, cost and hardware barriers associated with bringing transactional Web applications to market and scaling them as the service demand grows. IT Guru Nicholas Carr, former Executive Editor, Harvard Business Review and Author "Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage" will elaborate on the possibilities the new utility computing model, based on AppLogic, opens to the enterprise, the changes it brings to IT today and competitive advantages enterprises can gain. In addition, there will be a short demonstration of how AppLogic makes infrastructure so simple to define and manage, that deploying and scaling applications takes just a few clicks of a mouse and basic IT skills. Attendees will learn how to utilize hosting providers like Layered Technologies who have the required IT infrastructure and are offering new cost-effective, scalable hosting solutions for online applications to the enterprise. Attendees will learn: -- Why delivering online services that align to the business needs shouldn't be slow, incredibly complex and budget sinking task. -- How leveraging a hosted grid infrastructure of standard commodity servers allows enterprises to focus on delivering new online applications, meeting their business objectives without the hassle of buying, installing and managing hardware in house. -- Why utility computing is not about managed services and high consultant fees, but clear and transparent pay-as-you-go model. Registration for the event is currently open and free at: www.xtalks.com/gridcomputing0704.ashx