Perspective: Utility, commodity: IT to follow electricity?

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marketed. But it was still a rarity; in 1902, Niagara Falls generated a fifth of all the electricity used in the United States. In 1907, a mere 8 percent of American homes had electricity.

That's where we are today in information technology. We've created standards--chips, operating systems, network protocols and such--that have enabled computing to be mass-marketed. But IT currently requires significant expenses and expertise on the part of the user, especially in large corporate data centers.

As with electricity, though, we'll need to create mechanisms for defining a unit of computing power and pricing it.

It was the third stage--utilization, in which electricity was viewed as a commodity with a transparent price and reliable service quality--that really brought the benefits of electricity to the world. As electricity moved from customized to standardized to utilized, two things happened: Its ubiquity rose, and its cost plummeted. All manner of things driven by electricity, in addition to lights and industrial motors, were created, bringing real value to everyday people.

By 1930, even midsize American cities had nearly universal electrification; between 1910 and 1940, commodity electricity helped increase U.S. productivity by 300 percent. Industries never before dreamed of were now driving enormous wealth creation.

Ours is a young industry; we're just beginning to look at the utilization stage of technology, where network bandwidth and computing power will be available as a utility, where and when needed.

As with electricity, though, we'll need to create mechanisms for defining a unit of computing power and pricing it. We'll need to create reliable and secure delivery mechanisms. We'll have to create the things that turn this commodity into real value for consumers, the way electric irons, washing machines and water heaters did. And as consumers of computing, we'll need to take a fresh look at the role of "technology" in business and our daily lives.

What this will enable is the rapid deployment and expansion of valuable services that can be delivered over the network. Take, for instance, Google, which is delivering a wide range of search capabilities that are becoming more valuable as they become more personalized and can be used on any device.

Or look at Salesforce.com, which can use commodity bandwidth to deliver the same customer relationship management services much more cheaply than its competitors.

And this is just the beginning. For companies that provide the innovative content, network services, products and inherent intelligence to take advantage of ubiquitous and affordable bandwidth, the future is bright. As bright as for those who recognized that the light bulb was not the culmination of an idea, but rather the beginning of a revolution.

Biography
Jonathan Schwartz is president and chief operating officer of Sun Microsystems.

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Grin 'n Bear it

I like Mr. Schwartz' ideas, though not original they seem visionary if not for the fact they have already been proposed and apparently put to use by competitors. I followed a link (circa 2001) yesterday to a PDF report on the road Sun has taken since the 80's and later when it dominated the server market. Particular attention was paid to their investment in Java as a proprietary commodity to raise revenue. The article, like countless others, mentions Sun's inability to maintain a corporate dialog with the community of developers, corporate peers, and partner/vendors. Bottom line, this is just a rehash of Sun's commitment to amble down a path hoping to strike it rich. Why would anyone want to believe that a company smart enough to create a ubiquitous language, but not smart enough to be the number one revenue generator be able to find its' way now? Too many brains, not enough brawn. As an aside, it's laughable to think that at the time of the writing Sun garnered 23m per annum off licensing of the Java product. That wouldn't pay for the yachts the board owns much less the real estate taxes on the estates. Sun sets.