How Virtualization Can Help Firms Save Money

These days, we have all swapped our address books for cloud-based contact management, and our albums stuffed with 4x6 photos for iCloud albums. Virtualization is also one of the most buzzed about trends in IT departments, and is often touted as being able to save significant funds and resources for a company. Today, we will explore what virtualization is and whether it’s the best choice for your company.

The two important types of virtualization to distinguish between are server and desktop virtualization. Typically, server virtualizations are implemented first,  dividing the server’s memory and processing capacity from separate machines into one physical machine that simulates the former operating system. Desktop virtualization creates an infrastructure where all client data and desktop software is stored on a server, as opposed to on each individual machine. This allows administrators to centrally manage these machines while users are able to use their own computers and operating systems.

The primary savings — drivers influencing a company-wide virtualization — are hardware, maintenance, energy, facilities and downtime savings. While the servers that power your virtual work environment are more costly than the previously used machines, having one virtual server is still cheaper than having many physical servers. Additionally, having multiple machines not only takes up considerable space in an office but also requires periodic maintenance, allowing employees that were previously occupied repairing the machines to respond to other tasks. The servers themselves are also an energy drain and can save money with utilities costs.

Clearly, a company can realize many cost-saving strategies with server virtualization, but each employee can realize tangible time savings if desktop virtualization is implemented. Because information is cloud based, the business can create backup shapshots of an application and duplicate it elsewhere. If a computer fails, instead of sending the machine out for repair, it can often be repaired via the virtualized desktop in a matter of hours, saving productivity.

While virtualization can streamline many processes for a company and drive efficiencies in the long-run, it requires certain initial implementation costs. Take a look through our helpful guide below to see if the benefits of virtualization might make it the right decision for your organization.

Is server virtualization right for my company? (Source: GCN)

• Are key infrastructure resources such as data center space or power capacity nearing limits?
• Are you planning a server consolidation project?
• Is your average server CPU usage rate below 30 percent? Is there an increasing rate of new server provisioning?
• Do you need to run legacy applications that require obsolete hardware environments?
• Do you need to run application management in a test or development environment?

Is desktop virtualization right for your company? (Source: GCN)

• Is my organization facing challenging in providing individual PCs?
• Does my organization have a mobile workforce?
• Does my organization maintain a close partnership with contractors and outsourcers?
•  Do frequent updates to custom software require manual installation?
• Is there significant turnover, mobility or reassignment in the end-user community?
• Do users require access to tools supported only on different desktop operating systems?

If you’ve answered yes to a majority of these questions, then perhaps virtualization is right for you, and there is no better place to start on your pathway to being a virtualization expert than www.vmwarecertificationmarketplace.com.