The IT Utility: A Vendor Reality Check

A new study stacks up user expectations for utility computing against what vendors are offering today and lays out a roadmap for adoption.

By Bruce Guptill, Saugatuck Technology

While most executives initially look to utility computing to help dramatically reduce IT operating costs, the reality is that one of the greatest long-term benefits is the facilitation of greater business agility through a more flexible, on demand technology infrastructure. In this sense, the ultimate goal of the IT Utility is to provide a more efficient and effective technology-enabled business infrastructure and architecture that both lowers ongoing operating costs while at the same time enables more nimble and competitive business innovation.

But what is the reality of Utility Computing? Is it really a desirable place to be? And how – and when – will we get there?

This article digests and presents new research by Saugatuck Technology that provides a framework and roadmap for what the IT Utility will really look like for user enterprises and vendors alike – and why neither is going to see the greatest benefits of utility computing until the end of this decade at the earliest.

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