Virtualization: consolidation to cloud foundation

12/14/2011 2:30:43 PM

Virtualization has proven to be an invaluable technology for streamlining test and development environments, consolidating IT infrastructure, reducing costs and setting enterprises on the path to cloud computing. Experts have found that virtualization provides the ability to consolidate physical servers by approximately 20:1; cut capital and operational costs in half; and improve resiliency.

The Efficient Enterprise
The real goal of virtualization goes beyond test and development to building an efficient enterprise. As important as virtualization has proven to be, the average organization is grappling with operational issues that stand in the way of a full-fledged commitment to a virtual infrastructure. Physical infrastructure remains the preferred choice for supporting business-critical applications. The reason is because managing virtual servers is harder than many organizations thought it would be.

The Challenge of a Heterogeneous Virtualization Environment
Virtual infrastructures have their own set of management challenges, and one of the main problems is that traditional management tools aren’t useful for virtual infrastructures. This is especially true when dealing with heterogeneous environments. Since most organizations have four different vendors, technologies and platforms in their virtual environment, this is a prevalent challenge.

The Importance of Processes and Procedures
It’s important to establish strong processes and procedures for virtualization. Enterprises need to weed out complexity in order to achieve virtualizations potential in enabling an efficient enterprise. If you can standardize your server types, operating systems and applications, then you will have an easier time being responsive and cost-efficient. Once you standardize, you simplify, and once you simplify, it’s easier to automate.

Source: Dell

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