This "IT revolution" is being driven by demands for faster network access, more bandwidth, distributed client/server computing, and new multimedia applications including streaming video. The rate of technology change and a corporation's acceptance of technology as a business enabler have served to complicate and challenge internal IT service organizations. New computing platforms and complex enterprise-wide application packages promise enterprises more agile, more competitive environments for business, but installing, upgrading, and maintaining these complex systems is often a daunting task.

Today, most corporations have deployed their networks in the context of applications and individual projects. This ideology creates patchworks of dedicated resources for data, telephone, video, and other applications too numerous to mention. Inconsistencies, "Band-Aid" solutions, and lack of interoperability can lead to network downtime. And the cost of network downtime can be painful in terms of revenue, productivity, damaged reputation, financial performance, and in some cases litigation.