List makers take control (20 Sep 2001)

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List makers take control (20 Sep 2001)
To aviod chaos and stay in control, keep a list. The first people to realise this were the rulers of the Roman Republic, founded in 509BC. Every five years, they organised a census to count the citizens, so they could assess the number of potential soldiers and future tax revenues. As in Rome, so in information technology. There is a surge of interest in lists or, more precisely, directories. More companies are using these electronic lists to keep track not just of employees and outside partners, but of their hardware and software as well-for instance, to help IT managers with the chore of configuring computers on corporate networks.

Article URL: http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=779517

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