Why Virtualize? NEF Explains the Advantages of Virtualization

Why Virtualize? NEF Explains the Advantages of Virtualization

In our current energy crunch and poor economy, our data centers are taking a major hit. According to the Alliance to Save Energy, data centers consume 15 times more energy per square foot than a typical office or as much energy as the state of Utah alone! While IT managers are strapped to find ways to save energy and increase their ROI, there is some good news. Thanks to innovative software technology and the fundamentally changing ways people are computing, the IT landscape is rapidly transforming. Virtualized software, which got its start on mainframes decades ago, allowing administrators to avoid wasting expensive processing power, is making it easier than ever for IT manager to accomplish their energy and cost saving goals.

Virtualization is a hot topic right now, as it should be. Its concept is simple. Rather than relying on individual servers and operating systems, virtualized systems use software to allow a piece of hardware to run multiple operating system images at the same time – saving time, energy and money.  The basic theory is that virtualization lets one computer do the job of multiple computers by sharing the resources of a single computer across multiple environments.  Key elements to making this work are virtual servers and virtual desktops.

Virtual servers and virtual desktops allow for virtual hosting, a method that servers use to host more than one domain name on the same computer, sometimes on the same IP address, locally and in remote locations. The energy and cost saving advantages here are that you are freed from physical and geographical limitations. Not only do you save in energy and operating costs, you get a higher availability of resources, better desktop management, increased security and improved disaster recovery and business continuity.

It’s true that everyone is getting on the virtualization bandwagon – it’s silly not to. With the advantage of reducing IT costs and increasing efficiency, Virtualization is here to stay.

Still not convinced? Following are six reasons to virtualize.

Reduction in carbon emissions – This is a no brainer. Do your part to help the environment. Not only will it save money, it will also make you feel good. Hardware replacement savings – With physical servers, hardware will need to be replaced approximately every three years. Virtual servers never wear out saving you money and the need to rebuild. Increased flexibility – Server virtualization allows you to stand up a virtual server quickly so you can deploy new applications rapidly. Additionally, instead of needing one physical server for test and another for production, the same physical server can house multiple workload types and functions.  Better availability – Previously, having backup servers was a very expensive but necessary solution. With virtual servers, images can all share several backup boxes. If hardware fails, virtual images can be automatically provisioned to another box.  Less total cost of ownership – For a virtual server environment, your initial investment is less because you don't need as many servers.  Redirecting unspent capital – Along with reduced capital investment comes the ability to more strategically allocate your saved dollars. You can use those dollars somewhere else that will have a larger impact on your business's bottom line such as building out an application that increases margins or improves productivity.

About NEF
NEF, Inc., is one of the nation’s top telecommunications brokerage firms, offering 25 years of industry experience and a proven methodology for providing its customers with the best networks, information and pricing available. NEF can provide a broad spectrum of products from dark fiber solutions to high bandwidth, fully managed optical services. Through their many partners, NEF designs custom connectivity solutions and provides access to over 60 fiber providers in 48 states, 4 million miles of metro and national fiber and over 80,000 lit buildings. Contact us today to learn more.

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