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

Blade.org announced the results of a virtualization adoption survey which show that both large enterprises, and small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) have moved rapidly to adopt virtualization technologies using blade servers as their preferred hardware platform.

“Blade.org’s survey found that 82 percent of large IT organizations have implemented or are planning to implement virtualization on blade servers in the data center,” said Lisa Galish, Blade.org Marketing Committee chairperson. “However, even in SMB organizations, 28 percent have already virtualized on blade servers with an additional 36 percent in the planning stage. Blade servers have fundamental advantages in infrastructure consolidation, ease of management and cost reduction features that make them an ideal platform for virtualization technologies.” Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Virtualization Case Studies, Virtualization News, virtualization

Performance management and capacity planning, once the domain of statisticians and technicians, is now inextricably linked to corporate competitiveness, agility, and revenue. Technology has invaded every corner of worldwide commerce and is a potent weapon when joined with critical information on how it is currently being used and deployed, and how it can be used and deployed. Through agility gained by clear and understandable IT performance and capacity data, a company can gain market share, neutralize a competitor and significantly improve revenue and profits. Analysis has shown how a 500-server environment can generate between $200,000 and multiple millions in savings and recovered revenue based on the use of PerfMan as a performance management and capacity planning tool.

The following white paper discusses the business Virtualization Performance Management & Capacity Planning.

Click here to down load the Virtualization Performance Management and Capacity Planning white paper

Posted under Virtualization Strategies, White Paper, virtualization

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

Virtualization has become a very hot topic in IT organizations. As more and more solutions enter the market the discussion is shifting away from if it should be used and toward how it should be used and what vendors should you work with. CiRBA recently published an excellent white paper designed to help IT executives choose the right virtualization technologies for their business.

All virtualization technologies help towards the common benefits of optimizing the utilization of hardware, and software leading to benefits like cost reductions, more flexibility and better business continuity.

The challenge in all this is that each virtualization technology operates in a slightly different manner, and these differences are more or less pronounced depending on how they are used. This is compounded by the fact that every IT environment is different, each having unique operational patterns, technical compositions and business constraints. To cap this off, every virtualization vendor is highly motivated to win business in their own way, which changes the economics of the situation. Of all the trends currently emerging, the desire to avoid an expensive solution when a cheap one will do is relatively high on most people’s lists. Read More…

Posted under CiRBA, Data Center Virtualization, Virtualization Case Studies, Virtualization Products / Reviews, Virtualization Strategies, White Paper, virtualization