Enterprise Workstation Management from Chaos to Order

Enterprise Workstation
Management:
From Chaos
to Order
June 1996
IBM VM/VSE Technical Conference
Mark Cathcart,
IBM United Kingdom Limited.
Enterprise Workstation Management: From Chaos to Order
M. S. Cathcart, IBM UK Ltd. © IBM UK Ltd.1989-1992,1993 Page 1

Enterprise Workstation
Management:
From Chaos
to Order
June 1996
IBM VM/VSE Technical Conference
Mark Cathcart,
IBM United Kingdom Limited.
Happy
Birthday!!
8-years old!!

Disclaimer
This presentation is based on the presenters own experience and an analysis of
the current state of workstation management in both customer and IBM
locations that he visits as a large systems specialist. Mark has no direct
responsibility for workstation support , management or marketing in IBM UK.
If I visit your installation, expect more than a passing interest in how your
installation manages it's workstations !
Trademarks
The following are trademarks of their respective companies in the USA
and/or other countries:
Novell and Netware are trademarks of Novell, Inc.
Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Inc.
APPLE and MacOS are trademarks of Apple Inc.
SunOS is a trademark of Sun Microsystems
SAA, IBM, OS/2, Netview, S/370, S/390, AIX and DF/SMS are
are trademarks of the IBM Corporation.
PC Week is published by Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. New York
and in the UK by VNU Business Publications.
Byte is published by McGraw-Hill Inc. USA
Computer Weekly is published in the UK by the Reed Business
Publishing Group

Why Manage Workstations ?
Industry views are changing
Growing realisation of real cost in
workstation environment

Growing realisation of real cost
in workstation environmentIn its Jan. 1993 report, The LAN Mine, commisioned by
Computervision, Business Marketing Services Ltd. (UK)
reports LAN Managers:
Are poor planners
Have unrealistic expectations
Consider users the biggest source of frustration
"it would be so simple if there were no users"
Rate LANs as important or crucial
to day to day business
All claim LANs increase productivity but
only 12% measure it
Many expect 100% LAN availability but only 9% achieve it

in workstation environmentIn a survey of corporate workstation users with an
average of 850 machines, KMPG Management
Consultancy found that:
Running a desktop system over 5-years costs $1,564
Additional items not included in purchase cost $7,830 per
workstation per year
The real cost of a PC is the person sitting behind it
"if the printer breaks down and the support line is busy,
there is probably someone in your department who will
help. That's the hidden cost."

in workstation environmentCost per User/Terminal
Compass
KPMG
Gartner
ITG
Real Decisions
Xephon
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
Cost per year ($)
Wkstn + Net
Workstation
3270 Term

in workstation environment
Low High Avg. Low High Avg.
Mainframe
s
$900 $5,976 $2,127 $0.003 $0.07 $0.03
PC/LANs $3,885 $9,250 $6,982 $0.12 $0.79 $0.45
Mainframes are cheaper
Source: ITG, Mountain View, Ca.
as reported by Information Week 27 May, 1996
Issue

in workstation environmentOrganisation & Technology - OTR UK
15 mins per day per network PC
February 1995
1 2 4 16 32 64 128 256
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
Number of people
Number of workstations

Growing realisation of the true cost
in workstation environments
After 8-years of giving this presentation
It is no longer
a cry in the dark !

Do Nothing.... Do Something !
More Questions than Answers
Issues
Threads
Administration
Security
Awareness
OPEN

Quotes
If a train station is where the train stops,
What's a workstation ?

Quotes
A workstation is a platform where people sit
and wonder when the train will finally arrive.
After a while they get anxious and start
wondering whether they are on the right
platform after all.
If a train station is where the train stops,
What's a workstation ?

Questions
Do you use a workstation ?
Is it on a LAN ?
Who manages your workstation ?
You ?
A Local Administrator ?
A Central IT/IS/DP Dept. ?

Users
What do you mean I can get the
answer from a KICKS application ?
Can you recommend a laser print
for less than $500
What do you mean you are not
co-ordinating 1-2-3 Upgrades ?
The boss needs access to the
accounts summary from the
mainframe !
I've really blown-it, I erased
some files I can't unerase !

Workstation Challenges
Data Distribution
Programs
Data
Auditability
Cost Management
Virus Protection
"Last November we fell foul
of the virus. This time we
spent 48-hours phoning staff
and scanning their PC's for
any virus programs"
Data Access
Backup
Disk Serving
Data
File
Record
Byte
Transparent
OPEN
NLS PC Week 2/92

Workstation Challenges
Data Distribution
Programs
Data
Auditability
Cost Management
Virus Protection
Data Access
Backup
Disk Serving
Data
File
Record
Byte
Transparent
OPEN
NLS
... as an aside...
Is the virus industry a self fulfilling prophecy ?
from PC Week, April 1992...
"his company no longer relied on conventional scanning... due
to the increase of stealth and polymorphic viruses like the
mutating engine."

Workstation Data/Software
Distribution Requirements
SystemsManagement
Productivity
How many
copies are we
using ?
Which Licenses
cover this product
?
Who is the vendor for
this ?
SNEAKERNET
What software
are you running ?
What version are you at ?
You want me to update
1,000 users this
weekend ?
Update
CONFIG.SYS ?
What's a
PATH ?
Subdirectory, what ?
BusinessControl

Administration
The right people for the
right job !
Auditability
Security
Workstation Challenges......

Administration
right job !
Auditability
Security
"Security ?
The IT Manager deals
with that"
PC Week
March 3rd 1992

Administration
right job !
Auditability
Security
In its report, The LAN Money Pit, Forrester Research USA
suggests:
"Typical support costs for a 5,000 user LAN internetwork are $6.4 million
a year compared to $2.3 Million for an SNA Network of the same size."
"One LAN with 150 users is better than
10 LANs with 15 users"
"$1,270 in support costs per user per year"

Administration
right job !
Auditability
Security
Microcom LANlord to
ease network traffic
Microcom is aiming to bring the
real-time centralised management of
the mainframe to the LAN... with the
launch of LANlord.
...LANs are a precious IT investment.
Up to 50% of organisations' IT
spending is now on LAN support
according to research company IDC.
Companies can't afford to have one
administrator per LAN... The
centralised mainframe management
model needs to work in the LAN
environment. PC Week, May, 1992

Administration
right job !
Auditability
Security
Print Serving
LAN to Host
Host to LAN
Translation
ASCII/EBCDIC
Application Access
Single System Image
3270 Application Integration

... as an aside...
"When Superservers Are the Best Bet"
from Datamation, May 1992.
This article discussed the evolution of workstations through LAN servers
to the current position, where "super" servers provide centralised
services, including large scale storage technologies, to diskless,
network attached workstations.
I can just visualise the announcement:
Users sharing the power of a central high speed execution server. Since
most people can't use all the power on their desktops why waste all
those MIPS just leaving them unused ?
Move the power to a central, 200Mhz server which executes all the
programs. Back the superserver with dedicated support staff and this
has the added benefit of allowing users to get on with the job for which
they are paid !
Adapted from A letter by
Tom R. Donnelly, Pasadena, CA

I thought
mainframes were
dead ?

I thought
mainframes were
dead ?
DOWNSIZING
In most firms solved
problems tend to
stay solved and
many systems don't
cry out for new
technology. Jim
Louderback looks at
progress
If it ain't broke don't fix it: some
jobs are suited to the mainframe
Some industry pundits seem to
think the mainframe as we know it is
going away. By 1999, they insist,
the last big hunk of dumb
terminal-driving iron will be sent off
to the scrap heap.
I think that's a bit shortsighted.
Networks of peer machines
have as much chance of
"dinosauring" the mainframes in the
next 10 years as the Power PC
architecture has of making Intel
microprocessors obsolete.
First, public and private-sector
America has a substantial
investment in mainframe-based

I thought
mainframes were
dead ?
DOWNSIZING
In most firms solved
problems tend to
stay solved and
many systems don't
cry out for new
technology. Jim
Louderback looks at
progress
If it ain't broke don't fix it: some
jobs are suited to the mainframe
PC Week - May 4th, 1993
Some industry pundits seem to
think the mainframe as we know it is
going away. By 1999, they insist,
the last big hunk of dumb
terminal-driving iron will be sent off
to the scrap heap.
I think that's a bit shortsighted.
Networks of peer machines
have as much chance of
"dinosauring" the mainframes in the
next 10 years as the Power PC
architecture has of making Intel
microprocessors obsolete.
First, public and private-sector
America has a substantial
investment in mainframe-based

Are you
suffering from...
Management by
Magazine ?
THE WORLDWIDE COMPUTING AUTHORITY
SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTING GOES OPTICAL PAGE 168
Is Unix
Dead?
Is Unix
Dead?
B Y T E Best New Notebooks
Pages 238, 249
Unix is at a crossroads.
Soon, Unix will face
its most powerful
adversary to date:
Microsoft Windows NT.
Will Unix Survive ?
Turn to page 134
Major Upgrades
for Ami Pro
and PowerPoint
Green Computing
saves Money
and the Planet
UK/ International Edition
£1.95 U.K./Lit.8,000 Italy/$3.50 U.S.A
A McGraw-Hill Publication/0360-5280

Backup and Recovery Assessment
Criticality
Difficult to
recreate
Can be
recreated with
effort
Easily
recreated
High
Value
Information
High
High
High
Medium
Value
Information
High
Medium
Low
Frequency
Value
Information
Medium
Low
Low
Viewpoint from September 1993 Windows User
Protect and Survive
The real cost of being burgled isn't always immediately apparent.
My office was burgled early this year, the felons managing to make of with two
PCs, a fax machine and assorted boxed software.... Well, having had six
months to ruminate of the disappearance of the said items, ....
At a rough estimate I reckon I have wasted about two months out of the last
six,... It is only when you desperately need to re-create something that the
holes in your backup procedure become readily apparent. We thought we had
everything backed up, but (and it pains me to say it) our confidence was sadly
misplaced.
As personal computers continue to make more of an impact, the computer
literacy of the public(criminals included) increases and so does the likelihood of
machines and software being stolen. For us, installing our new burglar alarm
may have been a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, but
there is no reason why others shouldn't learn from our misfortune.

How much is your data worth ?
% Causes for Data Loss
Source: "Digital Storage Systems" 6/1989
0
20
40
60
80
100
User
Error
Software
Error
Power
Failure
Hardware
Failure
Others

Backup and Recovery Assessment
Criticality
Difficult to
recreate
Can be recreated
with effort
Easily
recreated
High
Value
Information
High
High
High
Medium
Value
Information
High
Medium
Low
Frequency
Value
Information
Medium
Low
Low

Summary
Lots to think about
Tackle Todays problems Today
If you need order and not chaos
Define your requirements !
How many can be achieved ?
Next time the phone rings...

Summary
Lots to think about
...Oh yes, just before you leave...
In a September 15th 1993 Gartner Group ATG
Research note:
"Total Cost of PCs versus X-terminals"
The five-year cost of ownership
personal computers is $40,000 per user
up to $65,000 when including network server resources
PCs have a labour/capital ratio of 85:15
Mainframes labor/capital ratio of 20:80

Summary
Lots to think about
...Oh yes, just before you leave...
In a September 15th 1993 Gartner Group ATG
Research note:
"Total Cost of PCs versus X-terminals"
The five-year cost of ownership
personal computers is $40,000 per user
up to $65,000 when including network server resources
PCs have a labour/capital ratio of 85:15
Mainframes labor/capital ratio of 20:80
Hold on, what
was that ?
X-terminals??

Best of both worlds
Modern interface
Based on Web browser
technology
Little or no software distribution
Little or no customisation
Easily integrated with existing
apps.
Salvo, WEB3270, etc.
S/390 Web servers
Low cost of ownership
The Network Computer

Time to think again
Ideal for most administrative
workers
Incorporates JAVA
means almost anything is possible
Software dynamically loaded
Not a bandwidth hog
Bar chart applet
<2x size of 3270 character
version
.5 size of 3270 graphics version

Time to think again
Ideal for most administrative
workers
Incorporates JAVA
means almost anything is possible
Software dynamically loaded
Not a bandwidth hog
Bar chart applet
<2x size of 3270 character
version
.5 size of 3270 graphics version
Come back next year
for another
party, this time to
celebrate the Network
Computer !

Enterprise Workstation Management from Chaos to Order

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