Wednesday, February 13, 2013

What Is An Application-Centric System?

 


The computer industry is one that will forever be evolving. In the last two decades alone, technology has progressed in leaps and bounds. We live in an age where virtual storage facilities are rapidly replacing the older physical storage hubs. Although the world at large is still focused entirely on infrastructure, there have been many changes in the realms of application-centric computing.
In modern computing methods it is becoming more and more sensible to create a system where the application is loaded first and used to create and influence any following data structures. Texts, images and spreadsheets are but a fraction of what this type of computing allows users to create quickly and efficiently. This is in complete contrast with a document-centric computing structure, where the document in question would automatically call forward the necessary software for editing. The latter type of computing causes limitations in the type of software that can be used for each different piece of data, whereas the former allows for more flexibility.
There are two basic concepts tied in with application-centric computing. This type of evolution in information technology would allow for a more efficient form of system management. In this type of computing, each application would be managed independently. This would allow IT management systems to fully capture the service, security and availability levels of each application. These application policies would enable utilities to function at optimum levels without the necessity of external management. CPUs, storage, memory and networks would be completely self-contained.
The second concept relates to “virtual application cells”. This would ensure that the above-mentioned applications are completely isolated from the rest of the system. They would be completely self-contained and self-managed on a secure server in a way that makes them appear to have their own personal operating system.
There are modern solutions that are very similar, if not completely identical, to the two concepts mentioned above. Regarding the first concept, auto-scaling creates policies for certain applications to run at optimum levels. Regarding the second concept, some grid computing systems have similar solutions. However, there are still some issues that remain untouched with regards to this type of computing. There is no clear set of rules which would enable developers to ascertain how to achieve a particular level of service. Similarly, there is no straightforward answer relating to the question of how to enforce security. Developers also have problems with providing adequate availability.
Most companies understand that virtual infrastructures should be created in such a way that they are fully automated. Each level of the infrastructure is constructed in such a way that it runs as one large unit. The OS, middle ware, virtual and physical levels all need to follow a particular structure at application level. Unfortunately, there is a lack of uniformity in the industry and this is what most IT management companies struggle with.
About the author:
Guest post by John Dissick. Click here to know more.

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