To the original poster, what are these Windows servers running (what middleware, applications, and/or services)? The answer to that question will largely determine how well you can rationalize your now full data center.
One major problem with Microsoft Windows is that it locks you into a particular, very rigid, and often very expensive deployment architecture. So you may want to look at a "divide and conquer" strategy here. That is, take a look at what's running on these 200+ servers then consolidate as much as you can, including taking a look at alternative operating systems (e.g. Linux). If they're running Microsoft SQL Server, for example, there's not much you can do (except blade servers and/or virtualization software, as mentioned) unless you're able to shift those databases to something else, e.g. DB2. If they're running file/print that's relatively easy to move -- Linux does that very well. If they're running Oracle or DB2 databases that's another relatively easy move. If they're running Apache HTTP servers again, easy move. J2EE application servers, easy move. Microsoft .NET application servers, perhaps possible (with Mono and/or Mainsoft). And so on. With a divide and conquer strategy you should at least be successful in holding the line on data center space/electrical/cooling consumption. And, yes, at least a small mainframe could play a significant role in helping you pull back from the brink. Don't forget all the test, development, education/training, and disaster recovery servers in your analysis. If you've got an inventory of middleware, applications, and services that these servers provide, along with CPU utilization data (plotted against time), then it's straightforward to do an analysis. - - - - - Timothy Sipples IBM Consulting Enterprise Software Architect Specializing in Software Architectures Related to System z Based in Tokyo, Serving IBM Japan and IBM Asia-Pacific E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
