Article at a glance:

Two new tools that CIOs want

• Among the many new technologies competing for the attention of CIOs, two in particular—server virtualization and software as a service—are high on their radar screens and have a strong potential to bring real savings.
• Virtualization is a software technology that allows servers to run multiple operating systems, thus raising utilization rates. Software as a service is delivering savings of 20 to 40 percent and freeing some companies from the chore of maintaining certain common business applications.
• Together, these technologies signal a shift: instead of running programs on specific machines, companies are adopting a more flexible architecture that allows them to host and manage applications more efficiently.