There Are Three IT Architectures, Not One

Forrester launched Organic IT as the ideal IT architecture in 2002. Server virtualization is driving recognition of this vision of a highly shared, automated, and virtualized infrastructure. But it has become apparent that two other IT architectures will be important during the transition to Organic IT for the foreseeable future: 1) cloud IT for large scale workloads such as massive Web sites, high-performance computing (HPC), and grid computing, and 2) island IT for key applications that IT is reluctant to put into the other two architectures. For tech marketers, this means toning down visionary messaging and re-segmenting the market to better tap into buyer pain and readiness to buy. The result? Shorter buying cycles and happier customers.