Virtual Business Benefits

A virtualized IT environment offers potential cost savings and increased productivity

Having a printer, scanner and copy machine in an office can be a pain. An all-in-one, multi-function device, which contains all three is much easier to deal with, has smaller foot print and is cheaper.

What about businesses who have many servers to manage for file sharing, email, databases, Websites and applications? One of the challenges for businesses in this type of multiple server-centric environment is the increasing staff/consultant costs associated with managing several servers, technical support costs, corporate down time when something goes wrong, demand in energy and heat generated as more servers are added.

A solution that many companies are exploring is a virtualized IT (or server) infrastructure, which means that fewer servers are necessary. Instead of having several servers, each running its own operating systems and applications, server virtualization makes it possible to run several, independent, virtual operating systems and their applications on a single machine. Thus, one server can now frequently do the work of many.

Among the immediate benefits companies experience when implementing server virtualization is that their current servers are often underutilized. Instead of having five servers operating at 50% (or less) of their capacity, you could have one or two servers consistently operating at full capacity.

This does not mean that you should just take an existing, old server and make it a virtualized server. In fact, older servers usually are not repurposed, even if they work fine, because the virtualization software has specific hardware requirements, including 64-bit processors and compatible network interface cards, which you won't find on many older machines. Newer servers also have quad or six-core CPUs that give more consolidation capability than older, dual-core models. This translates into more power on one server vs. two or more to get the same performance, plus you'll save on the cost of the virtualization software, which is licensed per machine. In the end, it will come down to just how old your old servers are when evaluating whether they are worth using for virtualization.

Another benefit of server virtualization is improved application performance. Some applications work on older operating systems, while some require a new system. In a virtualized server environment, you can run an application on both a powerful server and the appropriate operating system.

For growing companies that typically need to install new servers and applications based on growth, a virtualized server environment can help simplify things. The already busy IT department (or outside consultants) will have one less thing to worry about: deploying additional servers. Instead they can install new software on existing servers more quickly and likewise efficiently provide end users with the software they need.

A virtualized IT environment does not mean all your IT problems will go away, but it does mean the potential for time and cost savings, increased application performance and boosts in productivity.

TECHNOLOGY ENABLER: The Value of Virtualization Save on energy, real estate and IT costs with a virtualized solution from CDW. For a free assessment and the latest tools and trends, visit the CDW server virtualization solutions center. Click here to learn more