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

This week Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), a leading IT management research and consulting firm released a research report which provides data and advice on managing virtualization deployments more effectively. The report is called: “Best Practices in Virtual Systems Management (VSM): Virtualization Metrics and Recommendations for Enterprises”

As with all major IT revolutions before it, virtualization has introduced new and difficult management challenges. Traditional management tools and processes are less useful for virtualization deployments, and without new approaches to Virtual Systems Management (VSM), enterprises will suffer from increased downtime, higher costs, staff shortages, lack of flexibility, competitive disadvantage, and many other problems.

Enterprise Management Associates’ research indicates that better response times, faster provisioning and improved efficiency are just of the few improvements seen with the use of specific VSM toolsets and best practices. Here are few other results a company might expect from following VSM best practices: Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Hardware Virtualization, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization Case Studies, Virtualization News, Virtualization Software, Virtualization Strategies

EMC to offer strategy, design, implementation services to help customers accelerate the business benefits of virtualization.

EMC Corporation announced this week that it is now a gold-level VMware Authorized Consultant, strengthening its global alliance with VMware. For decades EMC has been a leader in information infrastructure solutions, and this move enables them to better serve enterprise customers around the world via the benefits they can realize by virtualizing their information infrastructures and data centers.

Customers recognize the VMware platform as a well suited environment for information infrastructures and choose EMC’s industry-leading technology because of the breadth of our VMware-integrated products and features.

“EMC’s deep knowledge of enterprise infrastructure, combined with our longstanding engineering relationships with tier-one application vendors and our broad product portfolio of VMware-integrated products make it possible for EMC to deliver high-value services that enable our customers to get to the next level within their VMware adoption curve,” said Howard Elias, EMC’s President, EMC Global Services & Resource Management Software Group. “As a VAC, EMC will be able to actively address all of the requests we receive from our enterprise customers who seek to leverage virtualization technology throughout their information infrastructure to reduce infrastructure and operational costs and gain business agility.”

Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization News

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

In today’s business climate, the need to protect critical IT systems is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have. Providing a high level of data protection while keeping costs at a minimum can be a challenge for many organizations. Just ask Endocare,  an innovative medical device company, that lost their parent domain controller in July, 2007. The situation was a candid reminder that Endocare needed a real-time way to recover from a disaster.

Endocare solved their disaster recovery problems with two technology vendors, Double-Take Software and VMware, who provided virtualization solutions to consolidate and reduce hardware requirements to solve this exact business problem. VMware provides the virtualization platform while Double-Take Software provides the real-time data replication and recovery software. In this case, using virtualization with Double-Take Software allowed Endocare to implement a real-time disaster recovery solution that would otherwise be cost prohibitive in a non-virtual environment. Read More…

Posted under Storage Virtualization, Virtualization Case Studies

Cisco announced it is collaborating with VMware to deliver a storage area networks (SANs) designed specifically to help businesses improve the security, scalability and management of storage networks attached to VMware environments. This solution is  in line with Cisco’s increasing focus on being a key vendors for companies building next generation data centers.  Cisco refers to this as “Data Center 3.0″ which  entails the real-time, dynamic orchestration of infrastructure services from shared pools of virtualized server, storage and network resources, while optimizing application performance, service levels, efficiency and collaboration.

Virtual machines allow IT  managers to run multiple applications and operating systems on a single physical machine. Virtualizing the data center improves resource use and provides a simpler and more efficient computing model to meet customer needs. The combined solution of Cisco MDS SANs with the VMware platform helps customers to more easily implement storage consolidation, disaster recovery, business continuity and storage backup solutions, as well as improve the visibility, security, and traffic isolation of applications. Read More…

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

IDC finds demand for Storage-as-a-Service has very strong commercial demand among small, mid-size, and large firms that are facing budgetary and IT staffing pressures. Companies are evaluating online services for backup/disaster recovery, long-term record retention, business continuity, and availability.

In both the commercial and consumer segments, the availability of storage-as-a-service is disrupting traditional storage software markets as it changes how individuals and firms access storage capacity and procure software functions. But, more importantly, storage-as-a-service is a precursor to the longer term cloud storage and cloud computing opportunity. Read More…

Posted under Cloud Computing, SaaS, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization Strategies

There is a data explosion in business and many vendors are working hard to help IT Managers solve their data challenges. Today, HP today continued to do it’s part and announced a software and hardware storage virtualization solution that enables enterprises to improve productivity, simplify operations and achieve lower total cost of ownership for their storage-area network (SAN) environments.

HP has been growing its portfolio of storage virtualization solutions, and this new HP StorageWorks SAN Virtualization Services Platform (SVSP) promises to improves the efficiency and simplify the management of  midrange storage arrays.

HP SVSP is a network-based storage platform that pools capacity across HP and non-HP storage hardware. As a result, enterprise customers deploying Fibre Channel SANs are able to significantly simplify operations and improve overall productivity.

Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Hardware Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization Products / Reviews, Virtualization Software

Today’s business executives are concerned not only with the growing costs of energy to run and cool data centers, but also with presenting a green corporate image in today’s era of heightened environmental awareness. The data center has become a major energy consumer on the corporate balance sheet. At the same time, many IT organizations are facing a multidimensional crisis that is the first of its kind in the history of information processing. These companies are experiencing a virtual explosion of information to process and store as energy costs soar to record levels. More energy efficient data centers can help reduce
environmental impact while curbing IT costs.

The amount of energy consumed by data centers is not to be underestimated. Information storage is one of the fastest growing technologies in today’s data center, driven by ever-expanding volumes of business information. Improving data center efficiency by 20% would save 36 billion kwh of electricity; the equivalent of 22 million tons of carbon dioxide—or the amount of CO2 emitted by 4.2 million passenger cars—according to the U.S. Climate Technology Cooperation Gateway.

In terms of energy consumption, IT managers need to look at the costs of both the physical data center and the IT infrastructure. Read More…

Posted under Data Center, Data Center Virtualization, Green IT, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization Strategies, White Paper, virtualization

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

Big Blue is not just for big companies. IBM’s new Express Advantage offers midsize companies server and storage solutions with advanced virtualization capabilities and benefits like reduced hardware and software resources. This allows midsize companies to free up floor space, save energy and simplify administrative tasks.

IBM is also introducing a new version of WebSphere’s industry leading application server that will help midsize businesses reduce both cost and IT complexity, while providing a reliable platform for midsize businesses to collaborate and securely exchange data. These Express Advantage IT optimization solutions are built on an open architecture reflecting IBM’s ongoing commitment to help midsize businesses find new and affordable ways to apply technology for greater value. “We’re committed to helping our midsize customers succeed in today’s highly competitive global economy with innovative business and technology solutions built uniquely for their needs,” said Marc Dupaquier, general manager, IBM Global Midmarket. Read More…

Posted under Server Virtualization, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization Products / Reviews