So, it turns out, at least according to www.dictionary.com, that “configurate” actually is a word, but its meaning is essentially indistinguishable from “configure,” and it costs one more syllable and two more letters. William Safire could probably give a name to this phenomenon, but it’s notable also in the cases of “obligated” versus “obliged” (where the savings is a more impressive 2 syllables for 2 letters), and in that of “ironical” versus “ironic” (again 2 and 1).