South African organisations are steadily moving towards the adoption of grid computing, driven by business pressures and the desire for cost-efficiency, an industry player told delegates at a grid computing executive forum hosted by Oracle and ITWeb this morning.
Most local organisations moving towards the deployment of grid computing are in the resource-clustering phase - the fourth in a five-stage grid computing adoption process, said Mohamed Cassoojee, Oracle SA country manager of technology sales consulting.
Companies in the country`s telecommunications, financial and media sectors are taking up grid computing, he said, adding that business pressures to deliver faster and change processes, as well as technology-refresh cycles are boosting deployment.
The results of the latest Oracle Grid Index survey show that at a global level, the grid index has risen to 5.2 from the previous value of 4.4 in April, Cassoojee announced. He pointed out that all the underlying indices making up the overall grid index (foundation readiness, knowledge, interest and adoption lifecycle) show increases in all geographies.
[VIDEO]This indicates steady progress towards the implementation of modern dynamic IT infrastructures, he said.
The study also highlighted strong links between business management and IT strategy, demonstrating that board-level involvement in IT strategy goes hand-in-hand with business success, Cassoojee stated.
It was found that 72% of organisations, whose executives are routinely involved in IT strategy, are growing, compared to half this number in which executives are never involved. Cassoojee also argued that executive involvement in IT strategy and planning leads to better alignment of objectives, priorities and activities.
In terms of global trends, he said, the research showed a number of changes in grid index values, with the US having the biggest rise in index values, from 4.6 to 6.1. This brings it on par with the Nordic countries with the highest index number.
The study reflected that North America is making the biggest stride in actual adoption, driven mainly by business. The continent`s adoption lifestyle index rose from 3.0 to 3.9, demonstrating a higher level of activities among US companies than in Europe.
Nordic countries, South East Asia and the US continue to lead the rest of the world in grid adoption, with Southern Europe and traditional Asian markets moving the slowest.
Cassoojee noted that all regions are showing positive progress in the awareness, understanding and adoption of grid computing, and an increasing number of organisations are taking steps to gain benefits from grid computing in the form of better usage of current IT assets and better positioning for the future.
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