J. Roberto Evaristo
Abstract
Discussing whether IT architecture should be centralized or decentralized is as old as the technology itself. We propose that, notwithstanding the various perspectives that have been brought to the debate, what is missing thus far is the seesaw between centralization and decentralization. The reasons for this important phenomenon relate not only to IT-centric issues but also to current events pervading other areas of the organization. One key issue is how management has changed its IT focus from a "must have/keeping up with the Joneses" investment to a value-based "where's the beef?" approach pragmatically emphasizing the relevance of data and its uses. A second consideration is the business requirements for a reliable, available, fault-tolerant, backed-up, secure IT environment, even in the face of catastrophic events, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Executives cannot afford to not know why the renewed focus on IT architecture centralization has happened and how it might affect their organizations.
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Index Terms
- Centralization momentum: the pendulum swings back again
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Reviews
Charles William Bash
Since the beginning of information technology, people have argued over whether all of the equipment should be physically close to the other pieces or physically distributed. For much of the time, the dominant issues were: "How to get the cards to the equipment__?__" and "How big a room can you afford__?__" Evaristo, Desouza, and Hollister argue that the pendulum on centralization has changed more than once, and that organizations need to think through their status on this at least one more time. The authors cover the determining factors and then ask the question: "Why recentralization__?__" The key point in the article is, "The decision regarding the degree of centralization probably varies by organization size [and links with other organizations]." The reviewers think that centralization is too complex for such simple treatment. Is a farm of mainframes scattered around the territory centralized__?__ Each thought it was, but it is not to the user who wants data that resides in multiple places. Conversely, is a physically distributed set of email servers running a single email package and being managed from a central location actually distributed__?__ Users think it is, but for the maintenance crew it has all the advantages of being centralized (until somebody needs to change a board, that is). In summary, the authors make an excellent point, but probably handle it a bit to loosely to do much more than get your creative juices flowing. Online Computing Reviews Service
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