What is 6fusion?
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6fusion was founded in 2010 as a consequence of a simple observation: The IT supply chain should be treated like a Utility – ubiquitous, pervasive, and absolutely (price) transparent. But there was just one problem. There was no universal metric for a transaction.
We were trained to understand the ‘server’ as the logical billing unit. But the founders recognized that this wouldn’t work in the era of computing delivered to business in a similar fashion as, say, electricity.
The supply chain would need a single unit of measure that could transcend politics, production, language and proprietary invention. This challenge sparked an entire IT Economics movement and lead 6fusion co-founders John Cowan and Delano Seymour to an elegantly simple yet powerful solution: the Workload Allocation Cube (kWAC).
The kWAC established the first true ‘apples-to-apples’ comparison for IT infrastructure. Taking this algorithmic approach to measurement, analysis and buying or selling, 6fusion enables the supply chain Buy, Operate, and Sell IT just like any other Utility.
Nobody really knows the true cost (Buyers) or value (Sellers) of IT in the supply chain because there is no standardized way to quantify or measure it like other Utilities. Standardization is the mother of transparency, and transparency is the foundation for any modern system for analytics and action.
6fusion is leading the way with the industry’s first standardized, vendor agnostic capacity and consumption metric for the IT supply chain: The Workload Allocation Cube (kWAC).
The Workload Allocation Cube (kWAC for short) is a 6fusion developed solution to effectively measure the amount of computing resources being used by quantifying how many computing resources are currently available, and how much is needed, as well as their cost of production. It works by comparing real time resource utilization against a fixed baseline of six different vectors – CPU, Memory, Storage, Disk, I/O, LAN I/O & WAN I/O. But, what do these vectors really represent?
The following is a more thorough breakdown of each vector:
‘CPU: Central Processing Unit (CPU) utilization refers to a computer’s usage of processing resources, or the amount of work handled by a CPU. Actual CPU utilization varies depending on the amount and type of managed computing tasks. Certain tasks require heavy CPU time, while others require less because of non-CPU resource requirements.
Memory (Capactiy): Memory capacity is the amount of memory that can be used for an electronic device such as a computer, laptop, smartphone or other smart device. Every hardware device or computer has a minimum and maximum amount of memory. The performance of a device and the efficiency of its input/output operations is dependent on memory capacity.
Storage (Data): Data storage is a general term for archiving data in electromagnetic or other forms for use by a computer or device. Different types of data storage play different roles in a computing environment. In addition to forms of hard data storage, there are now new options for remote data storage, such as cloud computing, that can revolutionize the ways that users access data.
I/O: An input/output (I/O) device is a hardware device that has the ability to accept inputted, outputted or other processed data. It also can acquire respective media data as input sent to a computer or send computer data to storage media as storage output.
LAN: LAN stands for local area network. It covers, as the name suggests, a local area. This usually includes a local office and they’re also pretty common in homes now, thanks to the spread of Wi-Fi. Whether wired or wireless, nearly all modern LANs are based on Ethernet
Our goal through kWAC is to empower business leaders through education; a clear view of how they are consuming IT and providing tools to effectively measure, assess and create a more efficient system of usage moving forward.
The reality is that the shift in IT is not all about the cloud or the technology – it’s about the journey from traditional IT thinking – buying and racking servers, long service delivery times, and limited flexibility – to adopting a more utilitarian approach based on answering a few specific questions – how much compute / storage do I need? What do I need it to do? And where am I best served to source it?
The utility approach to IT is about quantification and standardization, utilizing new tools to measure and size your existing infrastructure, including both physical and virtual systems. It’s similar to putting electrical meters on all the rooms and appliances in a house. With this approach, you can not only immediately see how much “power” you are consuming, but where and by whom it is being consumed – across both physical and virtual environments. This gives insight into how much compute power you have, how much of it is actually being used, and where it is being used across your various user groups.
WAN: WAN refers to a wide area network. The name is exactly what it sounds like: a network that covers an area wider than a LAN. Beyond that, the definition is less clear. The most popular WAN is the internet. It’s actually a collection of other networks, including other LANs and WANs – hence, the name.’ (source: )
