SCIENCE

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The network is exercising a powerful effect on businesses, making possible computing power that can be sold as a utility, networks that organize themselves and business processes that reach out to trading partners, according to a new report from Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC) released today called The Architecture rEvolution: Exploring the Network Effect on Infrastructure, Applications and Business Process. The network effect fundamentally alters the way business is conducted as companies consider their operations to be integrated with the network rather than merely enabled by it. The growth in networked business and the underlying technology that drives it, the report says, is nothing short of an information technology (IT) architecture "rEvolution" -- evolutionary because it's based on Internet protocols and other existing technology, and revolutionary because it's creating dramatically new ways to operate businesses. While business and IT executives are frequently exposed to information about networked business, they often lack a big-picture view that encompasses all of the trends created by the network effect. The Architecture rEvolution aggregates information from many sources, including CSC experts and clients worldwide, industry analysts and product manufacturers, with emphasis on every-day, real-world experiences. The report examines the rEvolution's impact on three areas: infrastructure, applications and business process. "Architecture rEvolution is a primer of important new IT architecture technologies and trends," said Bill Koff, vice president of CSC's Leading Edge Forum (LEF), which produced the report. "Readers will discover what's currently happening in networked business and what's about to happen -- and learn what they must do to capitalize on the changes." The report maintains that as network speeds increase and more people use them, networks are becoming more powerful, and the network effect compounds the ways that organizations, people and devices can be linked. "The results are potent," said Paul Gustafson, director of the LEF. "With the network effect, the whole is significantly greater than the sum of the parts." The network effect on infrastructure such as storage, computing power and networks means that those resources are beginning to resemble utilities, according to the report. Rather than investing in computers and storage, companies will buy computing and storage capacity on a per-use basis, much as a consumer would use electricity. In a utility model, the infrastructure capacity is always at hand for use. This model will become increasingly important to businesses as they try to increase their agility while lowering software and maintenance costs, the report says. Storage, computing power and networks are becoming increasingly distributed and businesses should expect to see the commercial growth of new forms of networked computing, including peer-to-peer computing, grid computing and self-organizing networks. Such architectures will bring many benefits, including increased power and flexibility, but will require vigilant network management. As the network effect hits applications, the report says, software will increasingly make the transition from packaged applications to services that can be easily developed and accessed anywhere in the network. The network effect will spur a shift to Web Services as a dominant application deployment method, as well as a transformation of existing enterprise applications. The focus on Web Services will also see a rise in Web Service security and management to address gaps in the open Web Services architecture. The network effect will permeate the entire IT architecture structure, including the business processes layered on top. The report says that technology is becoming increasingly aware of business processes, allowing businesses to tie third parties into their operations directly over the network. Such networked business structures allow companies to shift tasks such as application and infrastructure management to an outside service provider. The rEvolution will also see business processes increasingly moving to the network, making complex connections with suppliers, partners and customers possible at the business process level. The Architecture rEvolution, available on csc.com at http://www.csc.com/aboutus/lef/uploads/LEF_ARCHREV.pdf , sums up a year of research and interviews by CSC's Leading Edge Forum. The LEF, comprised of leading technologists, provides a CSC point of view on the technology marketplace and serves as a focal point for stimulating technology thought leadership, innovation and collaboration. The LEF bases its research primarily on experience with clients and focuses on the practical use of technology, helping clients understand what will happen in the near future and showing them how to benefit from change.