Myth #3: Consolidation is merely a hardware issue.
Businesses also should standardize whenever possible. Reducing the number of operating systems, databases, platform vendors, and so on, translates directly into simplified management and reduced costs.
Myth #4: What's good for me is good for the company.
"The most successful consolidation practices are optimized for the whole company not a business unit or an application," said Won. "What's important is the company as a whole: its direction and strategy. The way things are done should flow out of that." By creating a single way of doing things across the enterprise, companies can streamline support and deployment of technology. "If you try to optimize each little piece, then you have drastically sub-optimized the whole Enterprise," said Chris Wood, director, technical sales and marketing, Global Network Sales, at Sun's Newark, Calif., office. "Any differences make it harder to transfer applications or system administration personnel."
Myth #5: I have to get all new equipment to do it right.
"If I had one message to people it would be to avoid rip and replace," said Marco Coulter, vice president, BrightStore Strategy at Computer Associates International Inc., Islandia, N.Y. "The total bill at the end, when you consider staff time and training, will be higher." The better option is to consolidate in stages as part of usual equipment upgrades.
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