PC Welt ran a recent article from Guy Cross of the Oracle Asia Pacific Linux Business Unit.The article was titled “Linux is optimal OS for grid computing”. The general theme of the article was that the idea of virtualization and Grids built upon standard, modular components and getting them to work together as one resource, is a good fit for Linux and the open source open standards movements in general. This symbiotic relationship yields greater flexibility and responsiveness in an IT infrastructure. The article initially caught my eye as it played upon several of the themes that we touched on in a past issue of the Globus Consortium Journal.The PC Welt article was brief but presented some good “rules to live by” for those that want to keep their IT infrastructures malleable.From the article: Standardize. Take inventory to find out what you are running, and ask if the vendors will be around in 10 years, he said. ‘Do research and find out what the vendors are rallying behind.’ The answer, he said, lies in the ‘O3 zone’ ‘ open source, open standards and open systems.Consolidation. Have a 360 view of your business and start to migrate to do more with less, so that there is less cost to manage. Start at the hardware layer and then move to the database and then applications, to higher levels of abstraction.Automate. Take advantage of grid computing by deploying groups of small, cheap servers, or leverage on Oracle on demand to have software delivered as a service, so that the enterprise can focus on its core business.A bit of a self serving plug at the end, but in general a pretty concise set of rules for those concerned about being nimble. Technology Industry