Enterprise 2.0 to boldly revolutionise IT

Some significant changes are starting to take hold in the world of enterprise IT that deserve some thought. Despite the gimmicky nature of their umbrella-term tag – Enterprise 2.0 – these changes to the world of enterprise systems are likely to significantly affect all IT users and providers, and the skills needed to run an IT department. And the changes will come whether we like it or not.

John Woodget, Intel's UK managing director, acknowledged the scale of the potential upheaval at the recent European BEAWorld conference in Prague. For years the vendors have been in the driving seat, telling enterprises what was possible with the technology they provided – while obliging customers were merely passengers, choosing from whatever types and levels of service were on offer. But as Woodget conceded, the roles are rapidly reversing.

Currently enterprise systems have two distinct sides: the hardware, or the hardware and operating system "platform"; and the apps that actually do something useful for the firm.

With Enterprise 2.0, however, the two sides are effectively fused. As Woodget pointed out, this change is exemplified by the arrival of new business services based on Web 2.0 consumer services that have attempted to put the end-user in the driving seat.

Woodget feels that the most telling aspect of Enterprise 2.0 is that hardware becomes an after-thought. From a software service user's perspective, the distinction between hardware and software is irrelevant, so long as the service does what it's supposed to do.

In the past, customers have only got the level of service that they could wring out of the hardware and apps they owned. Now, in consequence of these potential changes, any provider that cannot meet the service levels clients demand is dead – or soon will be.

Woodget sees the growth of software as a service (SaaS) fueling demand for ever greater agility to meet market changes. This will require the capability to build and implement new services very quickly. As Woodget put it, "the term 'developer' will mean everyone in the user community."

A large-scale move to hosting implies a shift to huge datacentres. At the other end of the network, he foresees "light state" clients – essentially thin clients with a rich computing capability, offering continuous access to online apps.

Naturally, Woodget sees a big role for Intel in all this, suggesting that it has the capabilities required to manage the whole stack.

It would appear, therefore, that Intel is poised to push further into the market for single function, dedicated servers – cherry-picking the opportunities where technology can speed up access to the coming wave of software services.