CTO Blog
It has been a great month for speculation about major technology vendors acquiring each other, or buying still more minor players, though there is a notable silence from the vendors themselves. Why so many rumours, blog posts and trade press comments? Well, my view is that the ‘structure’ of the technology being deployed to build solutions is changing with the advent of a new generation of technology. Look with fresh eyes at the full virtualised cloud computing resources and services-oriented software on top, and it begs the question about the products needed in a major vendor’s line up.
What started me thinking this way was General Dynamics winning a contract for a UK Regional School Authority for a complete desktop refresh using their own technology. I couldn’t see how, or why, a top US defence contractor would be looking to win a desktop-refresh contract in northern England. The solution is built using General Dynamics’ own devices, meaning desktop, mobile, or even smart phone units that connect by 3G anywhere or locally through WiFi, or WiMax both using public and privately provided hot spots. There is not much in the box as these are real thin clients running on streaming data from the centralised resources.
There is a list of virtues in this on cost, security, operational simplicity etc., but when I got to meet with General Dynamics I learned the really great story was how in the first week some thirty machines were stolen. Thereafter not one has been stolen, after all there’s not much point to stealing them is there? They won’t do anything without being logged in, and stolen units are just empty boxes with the risk that when you turn them on under 3G, your location might be pinpointed by the police!
The core technology for all of this is based on Sun SunRay! General Dynamics licensed the source code some years back and developed their solution for the secure military market, but now they feel the timing is right with the new environment of wireless and remote resources, plus software as a service, in the everyday market. They are now out there to compete for standard desktop/device contracts using cost as much as service, as well as a number of other features to take on even the most effective PC-based desktop operator. In short, it’s a classic example of a new market entrant behaving in a disruptive manner to change the rules and the game over existing leaders.
The disruptive elements are perfectly recognisable; i.e., Thin Client, Wireless, etc., but the format of the solution is very different, and has two powerful key elements: the way a ‘Network’ is redefined in the manner of use and physical medium (wireless); plus the use of ‘Services’ in a highly managed manner. There are some other aspects too – the introduction of a new range of device types, the ability for centralised resources, and maybe even the shift in behaviour and expectations of the kids as users themselves. It’s perfectly recognisable as a classic ‘everything as a service’ deployment with some equally recognisable elements of ‘clouds’.
Looking at this in a more analytical way, it also shows that the old certainties of the technology building blocks and focuses that we see as part of a desktop deployment and support don’t need to be there. Hence the link back to my starting point as to what is required as a product or a capability line up, for a major technology vendor? There are two possible answers: one you extend the current technology model and ‘add on’ some products and capabilities, or two you see a new, completely fresh approach with new entrants into the market as General Dynamics have just done. In support of this latter point, it is worth remembering that SAP, and Cisco for sure, and some would say Microsoft too, all burst out into massive growth in 1990, which combined the technology revolution to PC Networks/Client Server with a sharp recession.
So the question is what would the delivery elements, both products and services, be if the disruptive approach was taken? And how are we all going to come up with sensible, tactical, money-saving, business-enabling ways to combine the elements? As a tease I leave you with the diagram below, on which I will add more next week!
About the author
Capgemini Global Chief Technology Officer, Andy is a member of the Capgemini Group management board and advises on all aspects of technology-driven market changes, together with being a member of the Policy Board for the British Computer Society. Andy is the author of many white papers, and the co-author three books that have charted the current changes in technology and its use by business starting in 2006 with ‘Mashup Corporations’ detailing how enterprises could make use of Web 2.0 to develop new go to market propositions. This was followed in May 2008 by Mesh Collaboration focussing on the impact of Web 2.0 on the enterprise front office and its working techniques, then in 2010 “Enterprise Cloud Computing: A Strategy Guide for Business and Technology leaders” co-authored with well-known academic Peter Fingar and one of the leading authorities on business process, John Pyke. The book describes the wider business implications of Cloud Computing with the promise of on-demand business innovation. It looks at how businesses trade differently on the web using mash-ups but also the challenges in managing more frequent change through social tools, and what happens when cloud comes into play in fully fledged operations. Andy was voted one of the top 25 most influential CTOs in the world in 2009 by InfoWorld and is grateful to readers of Computing Weekly who voted the Capgemini CTOblog the best Blog for Business Managers and CIOs each year for the last three years.
Nice diagram, looking forward to next week
thanks Urban!
Hi Andy,
Great post, was it purely a financial decision on the part of the client? The reason for the question is, are buyers changing their procurement strategies? Or are vendors pitching their offerings based on a realisation that purchase price (and cash flow) are key differentiators in competitive situations?
Many thanks
Matt
Hi Matt and an excellent point! the client wanted a thin client solution to reduce the cost of PC administration and the difficultly in retaining skilled staff and this was the key initial driver in the procurement. However the assumption was that this would still mean conventional PCs as the delivery point, and the introduction of ‘lightweight’ wireless connected devices was an ‘innovation’ in the process. Interestingly this was considered within the procurement rules, but had a very substantial impact on the cost issue around the expected cost of ‘desktop refresh’.
So driver was cost and operational expense of support without recognition of the possible other possiblities that this could bring. That is why i found it such an interesting case !
best andy
Hi Andy,
Thanks for clarifying, I do find it extremely interesting that clients are being ‘won over’ by new propositions. I am not sure if I have heard the line ‘no one every got fired for doing a straight PC upgrade’, but I would bet it is out there. Some forward thinking has been done from a procurement perspective that might not have been there, had the climate been different. A degree of client side risk and also cultural change to be come I think..
Hopefully this is one of the hundred monkeys..
Many thanks
Matt
Personally i reckon that the current economic climate is playing a big part in this. right now there are prizes for taking a new course of action if there could be real savings. the pressure to do this wasn’t there a year ago and yes i suspect that the General Dynamics bid might have been thrown out back them as non conforming.
I also think companies and vendors alike are looking for new ways and new markets to apply their solutions to. All it takes is one or two on both sides to break the mould and all of a sudden you have change…
Matt, to your point – I think this environment does mean people think if we do what we have always done we can always expect the same results – this is no longer good enough. (e.g. the same way a UK Government department chose an Indian IT vendor to deliver a high profile IT project over the tried, tested – wore the t-shirt and have the history vendor.)
Cheers
Nigel
its the change the game type moves such as the General Dynamics example in last weeks post or may be now the move by Oracle to become a full stack player and enter clouds using the acquisition of Sun that will accelerate the change as companies have to find new competitive positions and offers
Andy
First of all, I was reminded of Oracle Openworld conference at Los Angeles during last century -circa 1999. Apart from several announcements around Ford & Autoexchange [ a UK term done by Ford purchasing @Warley], Scott McNealy revealing Java gadgets switching lights in a conference room in Sweden using Java code!and finaly Ray Lane, Oracle COO introducing Sun Ray with McNealy!!
So, this current revival of Sun Ray desk top by a contract in UK just took me on Memory lane..
Overall with the Oracle procurement of Sun, Larry Ellison may be smiling making some $$’s out of the Sun Ray – yesteryear’s Lane / McNealy child…
I must confess to having always been a fan of SunRay but originally it couldn’t cope with too much network latency and i think when it was announced this definitely slowed up its adoption. Today with all the other parts of the computing puzzle in place its just looks the ‘right’ approach.
But then when you look around it often seems to be the case that the original idea needs to be supported with some other technologies to be a success. Think Apple Newton!