WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT

Workload is an integrated set of an operating system, middleware and the application that accomplishes a specific computing task. There are a number of scenarios where it would be beneficial for workloads to be mobile and intelligent.

Optimizing IT investments

First, workloads should be optimized for performance. The volatility and frenetic pace of change make it nearly impossible to plan adequately for the right computing resources. Inevitably, enterprises have too few resources for their emerging needs, or have compute resources sitting idle. What if the workload itself could be performance-optimized? This way, it would recognize once it was hitting its capacity and automatically seek out additional computing resources to meet spikes in demand. There's no need for manual intervention, and no need to wake the IT guy in the middle of the night when the server crashes.

Strengthening security

Increased public scrutiny and regulatory mandates require enterprises to have tighter control over user identities. Yet as any system administrator will tell you, administering these identities is extremely time-intensive if done manually. Moreover, as more and more business users consume SaaS and cloud applications on their own, it becomes exceedingly difficult for IT to keep abreast of what's being used, let alone how many identities it has.

A better alternative would be to have policy-driven workloads that have knowledge about who and how they are to be used. Basically, give the workload an identity. This way, the workload can move between physical, virtual and cloud environments dynamically, within pre-established guidelines.

Demonstrating regulatory compliance

Identity-aware workloads can also contain real-time event tracking, monitoring and alerting. This data plays an integral role in an organization's ability to demonstrate that its security controls have not been breached and that it is complying with relevant regulatory guidelines.

Reducing provisioning cycle times

Workloads are the building blocks for delivering business services. Much like Legos, workloads can be pieced together in any number of ways to serve a business need. Access to a modular assembly of workloads accelerates application provisioning time, giving the business far greater agility.

Ultimately, the ability to swiftly build, secure, manage and measure workloads will transform the way that we work. NACE can help in building Intelligent workload management for your organization.