ABSTRACT
Success in a distributed computing environment (DCE) requires a serious culture shift for data center managers. To help data center managers get a grip on the problem, this chapter proposes a model of service delivery for the DCE. This model focuses on three factors that have the most important influence on service, and the factors are risk, cost, and quality. Two tools that are key to enabling distributed management are business process redesign (BPR) and metrics. BPR gets the business system working first, highlights the critical areas requiring support, builds consensus between the users and the data center organization as to the required level of support, and reduces the sheer number of variables that must be managed at any one time. The metrics required to manage a DCE are different from those data center management is used to. DCE require a three-dimensional service delivery organization, namely: dial tone, business-focused or value-added services, and overseeing synergy.
