"Data centres - comprised of workstations, servers, storage, networking and software - are at the heart of most companies' ICT operations. They create the behind-the-scenes engines that ensure transactions and processes are quick and trouble-free," explains Hans Mol, marketing manager for Africa at HP.

"Our vision for utility computing extends from the data centre into the concept of enabling scalable, cost-effective IT capabilities to be delivered, metered, managed and purchased as a service - much like electricity or water are today."

However, in order for utility computing to become a reality, challenges at the data centre level must first be addressed. HP believes there are three key issues: heterogeneous technologies, cost and ease of manageability, and performance. "The majority of data centres are comprised of different computing components from different ICT vendors," explains Mol. "They are consequently difficult and expensive to manage and maintain. They require extensive hands-on attention which, in reality, means IT staff have to constantly plug, unplug, move and drag equipment, re-configure and reload, while watching for warning signs among rows of blinking lights and displays."

From a performance standpoint, HP has ascertained that the majority of data centres operate at around 35% of their capacity. This is because companies invariably overcompensate to cater for sudden but rare spikes in demand for capacity or processing power. "The answer is to build a data centre that can cope with more demand while operating within a reduced budget," notes Mol. The problem, until now, has been how to actually do that. But with the launch of the HP Utility Data Centre (UDC), that appears to have been solved.

"Two years ago, as part of our research at HP Labs, we developed the UDC - cost-efficient combination of computer hardware, software and services that can reduce infrastructure deployment and operational costs for companies with data centres." The HP UDC allows businesses to pool their data centre resources into a single infrastructure that eliminates the need for reconfiguring or re-wiring. It automatically manages and adapts the infrastructure to changing business needs - again, without the need for human intervention. And it helps computers help themselves: if one server isn't sufficient to meet a sudden increase in demand, additional computers can be activated to provide additional resources. 

"This means companies can roll-out new services, activate new customers and re-deploy resources to accommodate areas of high demand, leading to better utilisation rates and lower costs," says Mol. With a UDC driving the data centre, computer resources are allocated in real-time where they are needed most. As a result, it automatically determines how resources are being used; this allows companies to bill external and internal customers for data centre usage accurately. Customers therefore only pay for the resources they need.

This is, in essence, the crux of HP's broader 'utility computing' vision. While major players in the ICT industry have been talking about it for some time, few have delivered much. "This is where HP is different. We believe that utility computing [where IT is purchased as a service from an infrastructure that's always on] is becoming a reality and technologies like the UDC demonstrate that we're working towards that goal."

Looking at the regional challenges within Africa - stable power supplies, bandwidth limitations, - it's been suggested that making utility computing a reality is tougher than on other continents. However, HP is still committed. "We'll look to start with a few key initiatives - not every company requires a fully automated utility-like data centre. We expect, however, the UDC [and HP's other enterprise computing solutions] to bring positive benefits to all companies with data centres in Africa," says Mol.

"The over-riding fact is that you don't have to call the electric company before you plug in a new refrigerator and ask for another kilowatt of power. Adding ICT to a data centre should be as easy as plugging in a home consumer appliance."