ABSTRACT
COULD IT BE THAT THE PENDULUM IS SWINGING BACK to more centralized forms of managing computer and network resources? Since the mid-1980s, management has followed technology into a more distributed environment. As creating smaller centers of computing power linked via local-area and widearea networks (LANs and WANs) became more feasible, business units found it practical to control their own destinies insofar as developing applications and running computer systems were concerned. No sooner, however, had computing power and expertise been distributed across many segments of the organization than the needs evolved toward a more integrated use of information and systems expertise.
