This white paper, authored by industry analyst IDC, explores the problems confronting IT organizations today as they seek to bring data together from disparate sources in order to achieve better information coherence, operational efficiency, and more effective overall governance. Specifically, the paper considers the problems posed by the complexity of "data integration" technology in terms of its configuration and maintenance. It looks at the utility of a grid computing approach in providing scalability and manageability for "data integration" and considers how an appliance approach can further reduce cost and risk for customers.
W H I T E P AP E R S n a p - i n , G r i d - B a s e d D a t a I n t e g r a t i o n : I B M I n f o r m a t i o n S e r v e r B l a d e Sponsored by: IBM Carl W. Olofson Jean S. Bozman February 2008
I D C O P I N I O N moc. The many databases in any enterprise IT environment have added a level of cdi. complexity not only to their management but also to finding, collecting, and ww distributing key information from them. The problem is made more difficult in that w most enterprise data integration solutions currently available require careful choices 510 in terms of the servers that will best accommodate the enterprise data integration 4.5 software and meet the required service levels, and also require knowledgeable 39.8 installation and configuration of the servers, the software, and the network 05. connections. Challenges include the following: F 00 ! Choosing and configuring the right hardware environment for data integration 28.278 ! Assembling and setting up data integration software, which is often a complex, .80 error-prone process 5.P A ! Tuning and managing the data integration server for performance SU 10 IBM Information Server Blade in a grid computing environment represents an 710 important approach to solving all of these problems and to providing a unified view to AM data that is located within many business units across the enterprise. IBM Information ,m Server Blade is a preconfigured "appliance"-style offering with components that are ahg configured based on customer best practices and deployed in a grid computing nim environment to deliver both ease of setup and highly scalable performance. arF Importantly, it is also extensible, allowing customers to add server nodes, thereby tee providing more computing resources, as needed. rtS neepS M E T H O D O L O G Y 5 :sret This white paper was developed using information from three discrete sources: rau background knowledge from years of IDC research in the area of information qda management technology, detailed briefings and materials provided by IBM regarding eH l Information Server and the Information Server Blade, and interviews with IBM ab customers who use the Information Server technology. olG
Specifically, IDC has relied on information gathered over the years from market analysis and technical evaluations of information management software that is used for data integration to provide overall commentary and background information regarding the problem space that Information Server Blade addresses. This is important, as the IBM offering is new and still in the early adoption stage. Detailed briefings and supporting
materials from IBM have provided the information necessary to describe the Information Server Blade. The analysts also conducted a series of interviews with key users of this technology in order to understand how it is used in actual practice.
I N T H I S W H I T E P AP E R
This white paper explores the problems confronting IT organizations today as they seek to bring data together from disparate sources in order to achieve better information coherence, operational efficiency, and more effective overall governance. Specifically, this paper considers the problems posed by the complexity of enterprise data integration technology in terms of its configuration and maintenance. It looks at the utility of a grid approach in providing scalability and manageability for enterprise data integration and considers how the appliance approach, with its preconfigured hardware and software, can further reduce cost and risk for customers by taking the effort and guesswork out of setting up an enterprise data integration server.
This paper considers the solution offered by IBM, first with respect to the Information Server technology and then with its appliance offering, the Information Server Blade. It examines IBM's renewed commitment to the IBM Information Server and how the blade offering, inspired by customer examples, has reduced the risk and complexity of deployment. This paper also offers concrete examples of how the IBM Information Server is delivering real value to customers.
S I T U AT I O N O V E R V I E W K e y T r e n d s i n S u p p ... [download for more]
