Seasoned techies recall with nostalgia a simpler time when the “single-stack” model of enterprise computing held as the default approach to solving interoperability headaches.

Back then IT decision-makers were prepared to forfeit some choice and flexibility in how they specified IT systems in return for the availability and manageability that came with a homogenous operating environment.

With the subsequent rise of multi-clouds, application-specific hardware, ever-changing business requirements, and the race for AI, the old “one-size-fits-all” playbook has been largely abandoned. Most IT estates have embraced technological diversity, some by design, some through standardization, some by inertia.

Modern enterprise environments have become innately heterogeneous – and innately complex.…