Server Consolidation -- Beyond the Hardware

Before bravely moving forward with server consolidation plans, and before sitting down to determine return on investment and total cost of ownership, it is important to take a broad view.

What will be the consequences of consolidation if the company grows rapidly (or shrinks)? Will consolidation favor mergers and acquisitions? What about future technology?

Consider these magic words: Web services. Does the rise of Web services signal another round of distributed computing and decentralization? It's possible. While server consolidation is essentially a single enterprise's concern, it takes place in a world of computing where change has to be part of the consideration.

A server consolidation project is not one of the easier endeavors an enterprise can undertake. Yet server consolidation and the rationalization of other systems that often go with it can do wonders for a company.