IT on the verge of failure

Mediocraty has become the norm. Lack of vision. Technology not seen as a force to drive growth, because of a lack of vision. Too many people waiting to be spoon fed a solution. CEO's are waiting for new ideas, and vendors waiting for each other. No belief in first-mover advantage. Everyone wants someone else to take the risk.

Sandy Shen - Chinese Gartner analyst - talking about China's history of innovation. Every company must have a China strategy.

India - IT services around 1/2 of service exports. China the manufacturing powerhouse, India the service powerhouse.

IT in North America is stagnant. Consumerization - iPods, phones etc. are not technology, they are fashion and assumed and embedded. Cingular "fewest dropped calls" - what kind of message is that? Acceptance of mediocraty.

Impact of mobile technology. More than convenience - about improving productivity. And it's mostly about software not hardware - value and challenge moving toward software. Software lagging and becoming the limiting factor.

Companies respond by overprovisioning hardware and bandwidth. Can't design networks and applications separately. Use smart network architecture to ptimizae business applications.

Daryl Plummer

Nothing is simple. Complexity on top of complexity on top of complexity. Systems make us more rigid, not more flexible. New systems e.g. SOA have promise but make things more complex. We have to insolate users but not isolate them. Users should be able to say "I don't care" about the details. Hiding complexity. Enable new human-human dynamic.

Revolution: virtualization. Hiding complexity and decoupling. layers of service on top of legacy. get to same back end from multiple channels. Now talking about Second Life. Creativity through virtualization. Dividing line between real and virtual breaking down. Distance doesn't matter, relationships form and disippate, can't trust what you see, counterfeit reality - virtual image of us. Do you have a right to your own image? IP, business model.

Software as a service - makes analogy to licensing electrical service per person. Move toward buying services rather than components. Price, convenience, satisfaction are primary differentiators. Winners will deliver the best services. Users on tech - I don't care. I want the service.

Implications of virtual servers - from Google to World of Warcraft to SL.

Demand more embedded support for virtualization. Stop being systems oriented and become service oriented.