Big iron and the failure of Enterprise 2.0

All over the blogosphere one hears talk of Enterprise 2.0, in which lightweight software tools are predicted to encroach upon, and perhaps ultimately even replace, big software systems. I suppose it's a sort of "kinder, gentler," consumer-driven ecosystem, where software is cheap, easy to deploy, and avoids the gut-wrenching pain we've come to associate with big Oracle and SAP implementations.

Now, fellow Enterprise Irregular Dennis Howlett bursts this idyllic bubble, in his description of a particular Web 2.0 event Gnomedex:

Is it any wonder that CXOs are skeptical about the viability of Web 2.0 technologies when a video feed from a marquee event is borked at such relatively low levels of concurrent user? And when the closest you get to technical support is a back channel conversation?

Consumer technologies are great for prototyping. Regardless of the apologists, this is unacceptable. As I’ve said before, the real money for these new computing metaphors is in the enterprise. On the one hand I’m pleased to see tests carried out in the consumer world. On the other, it is clear the amateurs need to step aside and give those with experience of genuine scale an opportunity to show their worth.

Despite all the hype and hassle, I suspect the big iron guys are going to be around for a while.