News & Events
Virtualization Today
By Allan M. LaPrino,
Director, Advanced Office Systems
September 1, 2010: Over the past decade or so virtual architecture has taken the business world by storm. Simply stated, virtual architecture dramatically reduces a business’ IT footprint by eliminating the need for continual refreshing (replacing) of servers every 3-5 years. By creating “virtual” versions of these expensive pieces of equipment, companies can drastically reduce costs that were tied to purchasing, maintaining, powering and housing physical servers.
A conservative estimate provides for a 10:1 ration of virtual to physical servers, meaning that if you currently employ 20 servers, you could expect to minimize that usage down to as few as 1 – 2 with the implementation of virtual architecture. As of this writing, 100% of the Fortune 100 and 98% of the Fortune 500 currently employ virtual architecture. Bottom line, virtual architecture shaves IT spend dramatically, provides a much “greener” server environment and minimizes the physical space required to house and manage servers, all while increasing efficiencies.
That said, can only large enterprise environments realize these cost savings and increased efficiencies? The answer is “NO LONGER”. Industry leaders Microsoft with its Hyper V solution as well as VMware have diligently begun putting in place the tools to enable small and mid-sized businesses to capitalize on today’s technology.
Why Consider a Virtual Architecture?
• Get more out of your existing resources: Pool common infrastructure resources and break the legacy “one application to one server” model with server consolidation.
• Reduce datacenter costs by reducing your physical infrastructure and improving your server to admin ratio: Fewer servers and related IT hardware means reduced real estate and reduced power and cooling requirements. Better management tools let you improve your server to admin ratio so personnel requirements are reduced as well.
• Increase availability of hardware and applications for improved business continuity: Securely backup and migrate entire virtual environments with no interruption in service. Eliminate planned downtime and recover immediately from unplanned issues.
• Gain operational flexibility: Respond to market changes with dynamic resource management, faster server provisioning and improved desktop and application deployment.
Contact AOS today for a complimentary consultation on the benefits of a virtual architecture solution and how it can take you one step closer to a greener and less costly IT environment.
