Again from the Aberdeen report:
wwwwswest2.sun.com
The reasons why other revolutionary IT architectures have failed to sweep through the enterprise in the past have varied. Some, like client-server computing in the late-1980s and Java technology in the mid-1990s, simply were not ready when first announced. Similarly, time brought maturity and widespread adoption to the client-server model. Time is also allowing a rapidly expanding army of developers to grow the Java platform to industrial-strength enterprise Java technology.
Other IT revolutions have failed because they demanded too much change in too short a period of time. Most business people are too conservative to accept avoidable sweeping change when the outcome is uncertain. An example of this non-phenomenon was Sun's own JavaStationTM. Quite separate from technology issues in 1997, bringing JavaStations into the enterprise en masse meant throwing out all of the incumbent applications and substituting untried and unfamiliar Java software applications. Even if doing so could save money, that demand for sweeping change ensured that the concept and the technology never got off the ground.
The critical success factor to the business technology change outlined in this Profile is how little change end-users will have to accept. In fact, from an end-user perspective, almost every change brought by the Sun Ray Hot Desk architecture is for the better. It is the MIS managers and, in particular, the enterprise network and desktop administrators, however, for whom Sun's Sun Ray 1 will make the greatest impact.
Aberdeen, as a trusted adviser to enterprise IT suppliers and buyers, is always cautious. However when we see an innovative technology change, brought to market by a company that has clearly done its homework and that has the resources to support it worldwide, it is our responsibility to signal loudly and clearly that enterprises need to educate themselves on how they can use it to best advantage. Sun's Sun Ray Hot Desk architecture heralds a change of significant magnitude.
Sunw's on the way to becoming a supernova,
Michael |
