Virtualization Can Change The Face of Your Business
Submitted by vcadmin on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 02:13
Today's workstations and server are often underutilized. With resources as the main driver supporting workstations and servers, it can be surprising to learn that most are only at 15% processing level and using just 30% of memory. By creating a platform which helps workstations and servers use these underutilized resources, virtualization enables maximum value from your hardware. To grow it is not necessary to add new server machines; rather, new servers can be added to existing hardware, reducing the space, expense, labor and energy needed to run an additional machine.
Compact Flexibility
Small businesses can use virtualization to attain greater flexibility than a regular environment can provide. Many companies use legacy apps which can't run on today's operating systems. Also, a machine running NT, 98, or 2000 that is left on while connected to the environment can cause a huge security risk, along with administration problems - especially if both the machine and server are old. These legacy apps can run on another robust workstation in a virtualized environment instead of supporting a legacy workstation. This makes both secure, and available on demand. "Hardware sprawl" can be avoided by enabling virtualization to build infrastructure. If the organization requires an additional server to accommodate growth or new applications, it can add a virtual server, developing the robust server and lowering the costs of increase.
Virtualization has additional benefits. Operating systems such as Solaris, Unix & Linux are supported, and entire workstations and servers can be backed-up or restored for making a move or in a disaster recovery situation. Virtualized workstations and servers can easily relocate to other machines without a great deal of difficulty, in the case of failure or upgrades. Virtualization can help maximize available workplace resources.
Often a server or workstation just has one operating system. For example, XP or Vista on workstations, and, Windows 2003 server. Virtualization enables support of multiple operating systems, as in Vista OR Windows 2000. It's also possible to have several copies of Windows 2003 running currently: one for SQL, one for files, and one for finance.
Today's workstations and server are often underutilized. With resources as the main driver supporting workstations and servers, it can be surprising to learn that most are only at 15% processing level and using just 30% of memory. By creating a platform which helps workstations and servers use these underutilized resources, virtualization enables maximum value from your hardware. To grow it is not necessary to add new server machines; rather, new servers can be added to existing hardware, reducing the space, expense, labor and energy needed to run an additional machine.
Compact Flexibility
Small businesses can use virtualization to attain greater flexibility than a regular environment can provide. Many companies use legacy apps which can't run on today's operating systems. Also, a machine running NT, 98, or 2000 that is left on while connected to the environment can cause a huge security risk, along with administration problems - especially if both the machine and server are old. These legacy apps can run on another robust workstation in a virtualized environment instead of supporting a legacy workstation. This makes both secure, and available on demand. "Hardware sprawl" can be avoided by enabling virtualization to build infrastructure. If the organization requires an additional server to accommodate growth or new applications, it can add a virtual server, developing the robust server and lowering the costs of increase.
Virtualization has additional benefits. Operating systems such as Solaris, Unix & Linux are supported, and entire workstations and servers can be backed-up or restored for making a move or in a disaster recovery situation. Virtualized workstations and servers can easily relocate to other machines without a great deal of difficulty, in the case of failure or upgrades. Virtualization can help maximize available workplace resources.
Nick Pegley is a marketing expert with All Covered: Technology Services Partner for Small Business, providing information technology consulting and IT services in 20 major U.S. metro areas. Outsource your procurement, installation and technical headaches..
Article Source: EzineArticles
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