Virtualization Strategies News, Analysis, White Papers and Case Studies on Virtualization Software and Hardware Strategies

BLADE Network Technologies, Inc. just announced that its 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet switches is now  equipped with VMready^TM — making it the first network virtualization solution that automates the enterprise data center for dynamic “live” migration of virtual machines (VMs).

Now data center architects can use BLADE’s VMready switches to overcome network-based obstacles. The inability for security policies to move in concert with the VM is inhibiting broader adoption of server virtualization in the enterprise data center. VMready watches the Virtual Machine environment to ensure that when a live VM moves from one physical host to another, the destination network has been prepared in advance — preserving essential security, access and performance policies.

“In order to fully realize the benefits of server virtualization, dynamic migration of workloads is required,” said Joe Skorupa, Research Vice President, Enterprise Network Services and Infrastructure, Gartner, Inc. “To enable this environment, the underlying network must be able to automatically reconfigure itself to ensure that the appropriate polices and resources are in place before a VM is moved to a new host.” Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Hardware Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Virtualization News, Virtualization Products / Reviews

Despite all that has been said about the benefits of server virtualization, most IT organizations have only virtualized a small portion of their servers - if any. According to Philip Dawson, a research vice president at Gartner only about 10 percent of today’s physical servers are virtualized, but within three years, that number could grow to 60 percent.

The reason is virtualization allows IT administrators to run multiple applications and operating systems on a single server, which helps organization reduce costs and increase efficiency. As virtualization continues to be a growing force in data centers, IT managers need the right strategies to successfully reconfigure their servers and prepare for the ripple effects on related technology infrastructure, such as storage and networks.

Here are six steps to successful server virtualization.

1) Be a bore, plan some more
Rather than being a one-size-fits-all solution, server virtualization must address the unique goals and resources of each agency that implements the strategy. The primary goal of a virtualization project might be reducing the number of physical servers, improving hardware use, cutting power consumption, bolstering disaster recovery capabilities or a combination of those objectives. Information technology managers must clearly define a practical endpoint and strategy based on the organizations existing resources and any restrictions imposed by budget and staff expertise. Read More…

Posted under Server Virtualization, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization Strategies

At the Gartner Data Center event this week in Las Vegas, Thomas Bittman, a Gartner data center research vice president predicted the installed base of virtual machines will grow tenfold between 2007 and 2011. By 2012, the majority of x86 server workloads will be running in virtualization software.

“Virtualization is the most important and impact trend in IT infrastructure and operations through 2012-changing how you manage, what you buy, how you deploy, how you plan, how you charge. It also shakes up the industry, in terms of licensing, pricing and component management,” Bittman said.

Virtualization, however, is merely an enabler to some other important future trends, he said. Because virtualization creates a pool of manageable, flexible capacity, automation should take that pool of resources and do useful work, based on business policies and service-level requirements.

Also, the decoupling created by virtualization combined with defined service offerings and automation is a great enabler of cloud computing, Bittman said.

Bittman laid out the following eight bullet points that describe the nature of computing and storage virtualization over the next five years: Read More…

Posted under Cloud Computing, Data Center Virtualization, Virtualization News, Virtualization Strategies

VMware, Inc. announced plans to bring virtualization and its many proven benefits to mobile phones through the new VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP). VMware MVP will help handset vendors reduce development time and get mobile phones with value-added services to market faster. In addition, end users will benefit by being able to run multiple profiles - for example, one for personal use and one for work use - on the same phone.

“VMware is excited to extend the benefits of virtualization to the mobile phone market,” said Paul Maritz, president and chief executive officer of VMware. “By abstracting the applications and data from the hardware itself, we expect that virtualization will not only enable handset vendors to accelerate time to market but can also pave the way for innovative applications and services for phone users. We look forward to working closely with our partners to bring new mobile solutions to market faster.”

It’s not just VMWare that gets excited about virtualization for mobile phones; Gartner research sees virtualization in the mobile space as a very promising and potentially a fast emerging market.  “We predict that by 2012, more than 50% of new smart phones shipped will be virtualized.  Read More…

Posted under Virtualization News, Virtualization Products / Reviews, Virtualization Strategies

Sometimes it takes either a significant service outage or major change in your business (or the economy), to get business leaders to re-examine whether your IT infrastructure and resources are performing efficiently and effectively? All too often, businesses only re-examine their IT infrastructure when a major snafu has occurred or some external force has turned the business model on its head.

It’s not surprising that many IT managers shy away from reviews of their IT systems and react only when upset customers are wondering why an order is late or a database has been compromised. The good news is IT projects often challenge traditional Return On Investment (ROI) analyses, since the gains in productivity and service quality can be elusive to capture on a spreadsheet while the costs are all too apparent. With IT budgets often consuming 10% or more of revenue, many managements seize the temptation to simply cap IT spending at a fixed percentage of total budget.

No IT executive can reasonably expect a CEO or board of directors to sign off on an IT project without hearing a solid business case for the investment any more than they would authorize a capital expenditure or new subsidiary without scrutiny. Yet, a study by the Gartner Group revealed otherwise. Gartner found that only 20% of organizations undertaking large systems projects and only 50% embarking on a re-engineering of their systems ever developed a business case for the project. And of those that did, even fewer checked back to see if the projects ever hit their goals.

Read More…

Posted under Hardware Virtualization, Virtualization Case Studies, Virtualization Software

Quite a lot according to a Dennis Chung, an IT Pro evangelist based in Singapore. Dennis recently, profiles a server virtualization project that he did for O2Micro where his client saved an estimated $115,000 in three years.

Here’s is an overview of this server virtualization case study. As an IT Manager, Dennis’ client Bernard needed to meet the business process needs with IT infrastructure that is cost effective, and positive ROI. In the past months, he’s been working on virtualizing his computing environment. Bernard was to planning to increase computing availability from 18 to 70 computing servers world wide distributed across 6 geographical locations. The computing infrastructure needed to be efficient, cost effective, easy to manage and deploy, saves power and maximizes utilization of hardware.The current server utilization stood at at an average of 15% to 25%.

Read More…

Posted under Hardware Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Virtualization Case Studies, Virtualization Products / Reviews

Gartner Analyst concludes that virtualization is the most strategic technology trend for IT and business. Each year Gartner analyst examines the latest industry trends during their symposium and highlights the 10 most impactful technologies.

Gartner defines a strategic technology as one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment, or the risk of being late to adopt. These technologies impact the organization’s long-term plans, programs and initiatives. They may be strategic because they enable strategic advantage from early adoption.

In forecasting the impact of the economy on IT spending, Gartner put virtualization near the top of must-have technologies. To date much of the focus has been on server virtualization, but virtualization also has many benefits in other areas such storage. Gartner analyst Carl Claunch said that in storage, for instance, virtualization allows users to “to combine different kinds and generations of storage technology.” That gives them the freedom to mix and match storage technologies based on competitive bids.

Read More…

Posted under Cloud Computing, Green IT, Server Virtualization, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization News, Virtualization Strategies

Gartner, Inc. certainly thinks so. In fact, they feel virtualization will be the highest-impact trend changing infrastructure and operations through 2012. Gartner research feels virtualization will transform how IT is managed, what is bought, how it is deployed, how companies plan and how they are charged. As a result, virtualization is creating a new wave of competition among infrastructure vendors that will result in considerable market disruption and consolidation over the next few years.

Virtualization is hardly a new concept; storage has already been virtualized — albeit primarily within the scope of individual vendor architectures — and networking is also virtualized,” said Philip Dawson, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “However, as both server and PC virtualization become more pervasive, traditional IT infrastructure orthodoxy is being challenged and is changing the way business works with IT.” Read More…

Posted under Server Virtualization, Virtualization Strategies