Server Virtualisation
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There are many compelling reasons behind the implementation of a virtualised environment and this has led to dramatic increases in the number of businesses considering the roll-out of this technology in today’s money conscious market-place.
Virtualisation represents a fundamental change both in terms of how servers and desktops are packaged and also how new services are provisioned and implemented for the business. In a traditional infrastructure each business application is installed on a dedicated server with a rigid hardware configuration and therefore a fixed amount of disk space, RAM and processor resource available.
In today’s ever more complex business environment, this rigid link between applications and servers has meant dramatic increases in the numbers of servers being deployed and consequentially an ever-increasing work-load for the IT professionals who manage and maintain the hardware.
Do more with less and realise cost savings
This server sprawl represents a significant drain on corporate budgets both in terms of the initial purchase and more importantly the ongoing running costs; power, cooling and system maintenance. Research shows that for every £1 spent on a hardware purchase a further £8 is typically spent during its lifecycle on running costs. Now you can minimise potential lost revenue that is associated with downtime, outages and failures
Virtualisation breaks the traditional bonds between servers and applications by encapsulating each virtual server within a flat file and provides a dynamic pool for all hardware resources so that each server can dynamically be allocated the exact amount of resources required for maximum performance under any given load.
The virtualisation is typically achieved through the insertion of a thin software layer between the physical hardware and applications. The encapsulation of servers provides security and allows multiple operating systems to be run concurrently on the same hardware with no conflicts.
Green IT and Energy Efficiency
Reduce the energy demands on your business and build a ‘Green IT infrastructure’ through the implementation of an energy efficient virtual environment. All the hardware resources operate at maximum efficiency so it is possible to consolidate up to 15 virtual servers within a single physical host with consequential increases in utilisation rate from the traditional 5-10% up to as much as 85%. Less hardware is needed and therefore the energy usage for the business can also be reduced by up to 80%.
Business Continuity
The flexibility provided by having servers running as flat files also means that virtual machines can be dynamically moved between hosts to enable planned downtime of the physical hardware whilst maintaining the availability of business systems.
This flexibility can also be employed to replicate entire server estates between sites over either a LAN or WAN link to provide organisations with the protection of true Business Continuity.
As a VMWare VIP Professional Partner, STS provides a range of virtualisation solutions and award-winning virtualisation products; from free software for virtualising desktops and servers to comprehensive enterprise-class platforms for optimising data centers and IT infrastructure.
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