The ExxonMobil Travel Guide LLC, Corp., which publishes the Travel Guide, intends to build and operate a Mobil Companion Web site (Mobil Travel Companion Service) where, for a fee, customers plan road trips online, make use of travel services, and get preferred hotel, restaurant and other travel-related rates.

The idea is that, through virtual servers administered by IBM, the Mobil Travel Guide s computing power and storage will come to them over the Internet from an IBM network of data centers. Paul Mercurio, CIO at ExxonMobil Travel Guide LLC, notes that the business advantage is getting the right technology to launch what promises to be a growth business, but without the company having to put a lot of money into computing infrastructure to do so.

In 1958, the Mobil Travel Guide came into being to give advice to drivers as they travel around the States. Says Ralph Gianolla, the company s senior vice president, This was a time when hotels were not part of powerful groups but were independent. As a trusted travel resource with a big database of lodgings, restaurants and attractions and a rating system, The Mobil Travel Guide became something like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval in travel, with a star rating system guiding travelers toward quality experiences in travel and hospitality. Then ExxonMobil Travel Guide LLC was launched, with backing from Exxon Mobil Corp. and others.

For a trusted travel planning brand, extending business growth on to the Web is a no-brainer: People look for good quality in travel products and services at bargain prices, and more and more are using the Internet in their search. The focus to place the print medium on the Web became the rub and challenge. Gianolla, like other business executives, have raised their expectations on what electronic mediums over the Internet ought to do: Just putting printed stuff on the Web is not enough, he says.

The Mobil Companion is a good example of how businesses now see the Internet, as a dynamic opportunity for customers to find points of interest through a Web-based travel planning service. Dynamic is the operative word. While print guides come out as infrequently as once a year, Gianolla and team knew that a Web initiative like Travel Companion can give consumers the chance to get information as current as today. The strategy is typical of those forward-thinking businesses, abandoning mindsets that merely post print information on to the Web and focusing instead on using the Web to enhance a brand presence, and broaden offerings, in this instance, traveler-centric applications.

Nonetheless, the travel business is seasonal. That little complication made a utility concept for IT infrastructure very attractive. "The ability for us to ratchet up and ratchet down capacity seasonally in response to seasonal travel patterns allows us to contain costs," says Mercurio.

Enter IBM and a trip back to the future for ExxonMobil Travel Guide.

Earlier this year, in February, American Express Company and IBM Global Services inked a deal worth over $4 billion over a seven-year term for IBM to provide American Express with utility-like access to computing resources, namely network servers, Web site hosting, data storage, and help-desk support. So here was American Express, with one of the world s largest IT operations, processing 1billion transactions a day, buying into the concept of utility computing. The deal was not only a significant win for IBM but brought public attention to the idea of utility computing as something companies can consider today.

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil Travel Guide was realizing that the first step they needed to take was to think in terms of general outsourcing: We went through a process looking for outsourced operation of servers, and we went to six companies for six configurations. Then IBM sent us their response for Linux Virtual Services. It was compelling from a financial perspective and the way it supported our ability to grow, says Mercurio.

The ability of a Linux platform to bring better price benefits and improved e-business performance capabilities on a utility price model are strong selling points. Linux Virtual Services connects customers with Linux-based applications to IBM e-business hosting centers. The centers provide managed server processing, and storage and networking capacity on an on-demand basis. They tap into virtual servers on IBM zSeries mainframes running Linux in a hosting environment, and customers pay for computing power and capacity as needed.

So in early October, IBM announced another prominent utility win for Linux Virtual Services: a 5-year, multi-million dollar agreement with ExxonMobil Travel Guide. The Guide will use its IBM utility computing power to meet seasonal peak demands from those who make use of their Web-based services.

In describing company fortunes and falls, a lot of executives like to wax poetic in travel metaphors. Talking about its financial troubles recently, Lucent s chief executive Patricia Russo described the company s efforts to get back on a better financial footing, saying We re trying to fly a 747 in the middle of a storm and change engines while we re at it. Gianolla also speaks in travel terms but under far better travel conditions: For Mobil Travel Guide, gaining utility-like access to IBM s worldwide computing infrastructure is like accelerating from a one-lane country road onto the Autobahn.

Also using travel metaphors is IBM s Warren Hart, Director, e-Business Hosting, IBM Global Services, who says We are seeing a shift from railroads to jet planes to utility computing, a quantum leap in flexibility.

But not all companies are willing to line up for quantum leaps or even consider the utility model to similar advantage. This is not the big wave just yet for many corporations, argues Dr. Robert Austin, a consultant with the Cutter Consortium, writing for the group s e-mail bulletin, The Cutter Edge. The economic benefits that might accrue from implementing the model are largely cost reductions, the type of benefits that CFOs like but that leave many technologists worried, says Austin.

The transition to a utility model could, in fact, be traumatic for those in the front lines, he adds. Behind the reluctance is the fact that people generally hesitate to trust company data to outsiders, thinking that outsiders may generally not do as good a job in handling that precious data. But Austin also knows reality: The forces driving outsourcing and component use are economic forces. Trying to oppose these forces is an exercise in futility.

Mercurio s prognosis is as strong: There is no reason to own a computer server, but there is a reason for uptime and response time. Sometimes change takes generations but over time I would be shocked if I did not see IBM and other firms offering this kind of virtual computing platform rather than requiring you to buy boxes.