Ever since the first competitor came into the IT space in the mid-20th century, businesses and government agencies have struggled with the decision of whether to rely on a single vendor for their computing solutions or to spread their computing assets across multiple suppliers. This decision is still difficult today, especially for organizations building or upgrading their IT infrastructures.
Often referred to as a choice between “best of breed” and “single vendor,” both sides offer compelling arguments. The arguments for single vendor focus on compatibility and cost.
Theoretically, under a single-vendor solution, all products should work with each other seamlessly.
After all, they’re all made by the same company, so they should be interoperable, right?
This is largely true, but less so than in the past. The separation of computing from storage, for example, complicates matters. Different divisions work on these different products, and compatibility with their own products is certainly a high priority. But compatibility with competing market leaders is also a high priority.
Following our example, a company strong in the computing market, but facing a dominant competitor in the storage market, may be forced to focus on compatibility with the competing storage product at the expense of its own.
Acquisitions further complicate the landscape. It could takes years for an acquired company’s products to be truly integrated and made compatible with the rest of the acquirer’s offerings. Just because it has the same label doesn’t mean it’s got the same DNA.
Many organizations believe that under a single-vendor solution they can pressure the vendor into providing discounts. This is true but isn’t always the cheapest solution.
Best of breed is pretty self-explanatory. Go after the best products in each technology area, be it computing, storage, networking, etc. The biggest challenge with this solution is support. Call one vendor and they’ll say it’s the other guy’s problem. Finger-pointing can be frequent.
Recently some vendors — most notably Flexpod, a collaboration of Cisco, NetApp and VMware — have begun cooperating on best-of-breed solutions with the goal of eliminating finger-pointing.
Is best of breed more expensive? Not always.
In today’s competitive marketplace, where many core components have been commodified, best of breed can be cost-competitive with a single-vendor solution.
The biggest advantage to best of breed is flexibility. You can always change your mind if part of your infrastructure needs to be changed. A single-vendor solution requires a level of commitment that might not always be reciprocated.
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John Agsalud is an IT expert with more than 20 years of information technology experience. Reach him at johnagsalud@yahoo.com.
