The introduction of standards-based equipment has contributed greatly to simplifying IT infrastructure, but embedded platform fragmentation -- for example, CPUs, architectures, operating systems -- combined with attempts to "add value" by extending and modifying protocols, preserves interdevice "babble" and complicates IT operations.

Even devices ostensibly built on the same proprietary operating system technology, such as Windows XP or Windows CE, or even devices from the same manufacturer, can exhibit idiosyncrasies that limit interoperability. The increasing use of Linux across IT greatly reduces incompatibilities among hardware types.

Even across Linux distributions and CPU ports, the open-source operating system deploys identical versions of the same TCP/IP stack, leverages the same standard Web browsers and builds on the same file-sharing protocols (NFS [Network File System] and Samba).

This continuity makes life easier for systems administrators and other IT staffers. Ditto for comparable command shells, scripting languages, open document formats and the like. And, when and if incompatibilities appear, IT managers don't have to depend on slim documentation or overtaxed, underpowered support lines. They can peruse the underlying code themselves to discover the cause.

Management interfaces