'Get Back' to IBM

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February 25, 2002 (Computerworld) --

A couple of weeks ago, I suggested that IBM has an ace in the hole called "hardware devolution." The best way to describe hardware devolution is to examine the so-called evolution of the PC. If the word Beatles makes you think of screaming teens fainting over the Fab Four, you're probably old enough to remember how the first PCs secretly invaded our workplace. "In My Life," I recall that the
"Revolution" began because whenever anyone wanted something from computer services, the answer was "Don't Bother Me," "You Can't Do That" or, worst of all, "No Reply." The PC gave users the ability to circumvent computer services. Naturally, the company policy was often that, " 'If You've Got Troubles,' it doesn't matter how much you 'Twist and Shout' for 'Help.' 'Think for Yourself,' because we're not going to 'Carry That Weight.' " But we kept on using the PCs "In Spite of All the Danger," because when they worked, "A Hard Day's Night" at the PC usually gave us the answers we wanted.
Then we got on "The Long and Winding Road" of networking so that our PCs could "Come Together" to share resources, such as printers and hard drives. Computer services morphed into IT, which better described the broader responsibilities of managing all the networked desktop computers and everything stored on them. The computer room started filling up with servers. Thanks largely to "The Fool on the Hill" in the Northwest, everyone wore beepers and worked "Eight Days a Week," "Fixing a Hole" "Here, There and Everywhere." As the problems increased, so did the budgets to address them.
The demands of enterprise-scale applications, followed by the need to provide high-availability services on the Internet, meant that IT had to purchase more PC servers to handle those demands. More servers meant more components and more software installations, and IT departments had to look after "Every Little Thing."
Vendors figured, "We Can Work It Out" and make some "Money (That's What I Want\)." So some vendors consolidated servers into racks, and others created KVM switches to manage several servers with a single monitor, keyboard and mouse.
So there they were.

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