Saturday, November 20, 2004

Smaller, Faster and Cheaper

The ENIAC which was the first digital computer and it was huge! It had less power than the original IBM AT 8086 desktop which was 8 MHz with 512k of RAM. I still have one and use it for my world clock, not much use for it after that.

More about the ENIAC:
http://ftp.arl.army.mil/~mike/comphist/96summary/

Computer Historical Photos:
http://ftp.arl.army.mil/ftp/historic-computers/

Another example would be when I worked at a fortune 25 companies our Big Iron IBM mainframe had 40 Meg hard drives that were as big as a full size refrigerator. We had 60 of them and they we water cooled. Years later they were replaced with one unit that was about the size of one full size refrigerator that held 90gig. All of the 40 meg drives where removed. We have so much empty space left in the data center management held a celebration putting tournament in the empty space with 18 putting holes.

Here is funny story on the 40 meg refrigerator hard drives. A third party company was contract to remove and dispose of the hardware. They loaded them onto a Simi, but did not tie them down or lock the wheels on the hard drives. As a result when the truck pulled out of the loading dock as started up the hill all the hard drives shifted to the back of the trailer ripping the doors off, dumping them all on the ground and some roll back down the hill. What a mess that was. We were glad that was not our project.

That was the last time I saw a hard drive with wheels!

Friday, November 19, 2004

Hardware Reviews & Research

Here are a couple of links that I use regularly. They contain the latest information on hardware reviews and pricing. The best way to learn more about hardware and components is to read the review sites and check on the pricing. I used to use Computer Shopper magazine back when it was the size of a telephone book each month. It was a great tool to stay on top of the latest stuff. Now I do everything online at these links and others. Note, I do not always purchase from these sites. I use them to get the latest info and price comparison.

Tom's Hardware
http://www.tomshardware.com/

Price Watch
http://www.pricewatch.com/

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Management Implications of Tech Trends

Q: What are the implications for management of each of the following trends:
  • Reduction in cost of hardware with time
  • Reduction in size of hardware with time
  • Increase in power of hardware with time
Implication means consequence. The obvious benefits are better management of information and better productivity. The benefits listed in the text are better quality information, more accurate, helps to provide improved service, increase in productivity (which means doing a lot more in the same amount of available time). Instead of completing 5 things in 8 hours you are completing 30 things in 8 hours. They also provide competitive advantages.

One would think that the trends stated above would have a positive impact on your business. The key word in those items list is time. The only positive benefits that can be reaped is in the future purchases of that better hardware. There is no benefits to a business currents state and does impact a business in negative ways. This is not stated in the text provided.

Taking your current business state with the huge investment in hardware, software, engineering and ongoing support costs, a reduction of cost, size and an increase in power of hardware can affect the business by allowing competitors who are in a position to purchase and deploy the hardware into production immediately.

Most businesses have a fixed budget in which they can afford to purchase, lease and write-off the hardware as a capital expense. If a business is held in financial hostage and can not afford to make the purchase of the faster better hardware, then they are at a disadvantage point against those who can make the purchase.

I see this every day as businesses try to squeeze every last ounce out of their purchases to get a return on their investment, more commonly know as ROI. Microsoft in there marketing packages called this the “Total Cost of Ownership”.

How to know when to upgrade is easy. Is the overall cost of doing business losing money using the existing hardware? If so, can the current company financial state afford to make the purchase relevant to the loss in doing business with the current hardware?

So the overall implications as a result of faster, smaller, cheaper hardware puts companies with current heavy investment at a disadvantage. However as the company is able to afford in the future the newer faster, smaller, cheaper hardware it will greatly benefit the company.

Another key word in the question is “hardware”. Notice that there was no mention of software. Software has its own dynamics.