FM meets IT viewpoint
We are at a crossroads with regard to the FM and IT functions in organisations. Bernard Crouch says the time may be right for the two to merge.
might be cut as requirements changed. However the moves that took place each weekend were carried out by the FM team but were limited by IT to no more than 30 people per weekend! So moving a department of 200 would be spread over at least seven weekends. Today this scenario is much less likely due to changes that have gradually taken place both with new technology as well as with the development of FM. However it seems increasingly likely
that we are now at a crossroads with regard to the FM and IT functions and who controls what. In some organisations the facilities manager is now responsible for equipment that used to come under the IT department, but there is also an increasing amount of networked equipment which by default could become the responsibility of the IT department.
Wireless
The introduction of wireless networks within the workplace delivers major advantages of greater flexibility and mobility for users and in particular the ability to add new users or move staff around without any costly changes to the network infrastructure. Wireless also enables the FM to have greater and easier control over the workplace without constantly having to call upon IT for each and every move. Wireless has improved a great deal over the last few years and the
IT: the new FM frontier? J
ust a decade ago a fairly typical large company with a high rate of churn could easily be in the following position. Teams would be formed new recruits would be added to teams whilst elsewhere numbers
latest 802.11n standard delivers a better performance, range and improved reliability, it is predicted that by 2013 at least 40% of desktops will be virtual.
Cloud computing
In the current economic climate organisations are looking to cut costs, while at the same time IT departments are being asked to provide higher levels of availability and cope with steadily increasing data growth. Cloud computing is able to deliver savings along with improved continuity and resilience by locating software and hardware remotely with a third party, typically one of the big IT providers. Today’s office buildings tend to be quite complex with switches, servers and storage all needed to support the many desktop PCs. In addition all of this equipment then requires cooling and UPSs all of which not only means high power usage but also add to the complexity of the building design. An organisation using cloud computing could be viewed as effectively having an uncomplicated building, which is devoid of much of the IT equipment that needs to be installed, maintained and altered by the IT department. With cloud
www.pm-select.co.uk l september 2010 l Property Management Select l 37
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