Imagine the possibilities of using the lower right side compartment as a kid zone, as a prep zone for a special meal, as a centralized storage area for a family member with dietary restrictions, or to replace a separate beverage refrigerator.

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Such computer systems require interconnectivity to provide access to centralized storage and as discussed above increasingly require the need to communicate with each other to not only provide virtualization properties already discussed but also deliver performance in an acceptable time-frame, often in the order of microseconds.

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The battle between local storage and shared storage has a long history, back to the very beginnings of the personal computer industry, when small computers with local storage began to replace dumb terminals connected to centralized mainframe computers.

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By moving IT infrastructure to a centralized computing "power plant" rather than hosting their own processing and storage, Carr says, companies are able to buy computing resources at lower prices and avoid large initial technology investments.

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Putting the bulk of computing and storage in the data center has other perks for IT management: It creates a centralized location for software upgrades across an entire organization and puts a layer of network security between users and sensitive data--a lost thin client laptop, for instance, doesn't contain private information, and so doesn't pose a threat of causing a data breach.

FORBES: Magazine Article