October 13th, 2008
Can virtualization help when times get tough?
When times get tough, many organizations look for new ways to reduce costs while still being able to provide their customers with the products and services they need. This appears to be just such a time. Virtualization technology can most certainly be part of the solution. Let’s review how each of the layers could be of assistance.
- Access virtualization, such as that offered by Citrix and Microsoft, can make it possible for administrative and operational cost reductions while still making needed applications available in a secure, reliable way.
- Application virtualization, such as that offered by Citrix, Microsoft and many others, can make it possible for applications to be made available to staff members in a reliable way and even make it easier to update these applications without having to visit each and every laptop or desktop computer.
- Processing virtualization, such as that offered by Citrix, IBM, HP, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, Virtual Iron and many others can either allow many machines to work together to get tasks done more quickly to optimize staff member’s time or consolidate tasks onto a smaller number of physical machines. This approach can result in hardware, software, operational and adminisitrative cost reductions.
- Network virtualization, such as that offered by Cisco, Juniper and others, can make it possible to reduce the costs of administrative and operating costs.
- Storage virtualization, such as that offered by EMC, IBM, Hitachi, HP, NetApp, Sun and others, can do for storage what processing virtualization does for processing.
- Management and security software for virtualized environments may be the area having the biggest opportunity for cost reduction.
This very quick run down of how virtualization technology only touches on the benefits that can be found.
How is your organization using this technology in these trying times? If this isn’t part of the plan, it might be wise to talk to suppliers such as those mentioned above to learn how they can help in these trying times.
Daniel Kusnetzky is a member of the senior management team of The 451 Group. He is responsible for research and publications on a broad array of technology topics. He examines emerging technology trends, vendor strategies, research and development issues, and end-user integration requirements. You can follow Dan on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 10/14/08
