Virtualisation

The evolution of distributed computing has led to an explosion in data centre complexity as the volume of servers, storage devices, and LAN/WAN has grown exponentially. Simultaneously, processors continue to become more powerful whilst applications remain rigidly tied to specific servers, resulting in low server utilisation across the data centre.

In today’s environment it is extremely complex and difficult to manage yielding high costs in areas such as; hardware and software to meet peak loads, high availability, disaster recovery, operational expense for space, power and cooling, personnel-intensive administration of redundant power, LAN, SAN, and management networks.

Benefits of Virtualisation

Negative impact on existing skills and resources are minimal as existing IT professionals can utilise their existing knowledge and skill set to allow virtualisation to be easily integrated into any environment.
Allows multiple compatibility of Operating Systems such as Windows and Linux, running parallel on a single server, making for a dynamic infrastructure.

In keeping with the recent Cabinet Office release ‘Greening Government ICT’ and ISO standards, virtualisation allows for a more efficient, sustainable, and responsible IT policy which in today’s economic climate also has the added benefits of lower hardware, energy, and management overheads.
More efficient use of resource by the consolidation of servers into a smaller volume of physical machines through the transformation of many common hardware components into software, thus resulting in a reduction of up to 50% in energy costs.
Features of Virtualisation allow for – Basic Server Consolidation, Hosted Desktop Virtualisation, Test and Development, and Branch Server Consolidation.

As a result of these trends businesses are spending an increasingly large proportion of their budgets on maintenance, power and cooling. Businesses worldwide spent approximately $55.4b on new servers and about $29b to power and cool those machines. This equates to almost 50% of the costs associated with the hardware itself. It is now critical for IT departments to regain control of its computing, storage, and network resources.