Squeeze more value out of existing data center infrastructure, while provisioning new applications and users more quickly.

Get a Handle on Data Center Sprawl

How many servers and storage devices in your company’s data center run at optimal utilization? Market research firm IDC has calculated the combined capacity that could be pooled from underutilized hardware at almost 20 million servers. It’s little wonder, then, that virtualization projects are a strategic priority for most businesses.  

Now, more than ever, it’s imperative that every company really do more with less. Virtualization enables just that, promising a better return on investment (ROI) for existing technology infrastructure, while allowing businesses to roll out new business-critical applications and users more quickly. Virtualization can also dramatically transform how companies plan for and respond to disastrous outages.

Rethinking the Relationship Between Software and Hardware

For years, we’ve been taught to think of software and hardware in a one-to-one relationship. Every time a new application server was needed in the data center, a new server was provisioned. With virtualization technology, however, one physical server can be configured to take on the jobs of multiple servers. What’s the potential impact of this consolidation? Consider that researcher Gartner, for one, believes virtualization can reduce server energy consumption by up to 82 percent and condense floor space you need in your data center by 85 percent.

The management software associated with virtualized servers makes it simpler for companies to keep tabs on performance and real-time usage across the entire data center. This, in turn, allows business executives to detect and to respond more quickly and proactively to unusual activity or peaks in demand.

Provision Mission-critical Applications More Quickly

This same management visibility creates a foundation for improved business agility.

New production applications can be tested and introduced more quickly based on departmental needs, because IT managers no longer have to procure, configure and provision a new physical server to accommodate each new application server. Security policies and updates can be deployed easily across virtualized infrastructure, shoring up a company’s compliance credentials. What’s more, virtual infrastructure allows organizations to get new users up and running more quickly, from virtually anywhere, because profiles for different roles across you organization can be defined, installed and managed at the server level.

How CDI Makes Virtualization Work for Your Business

To benefit from virtualization, enterprises need guidance to assess their existing systems and applications and then use that knowledge to plan, build and manage their virtual and physical infrastructure. CDI consultants have the expertise to identify the best virtualization solution for your environment and the experience to implement it right the first time. CDI Professional Services can deliver a clear action plan for virtualization that includes:

• An analysis of Operational Readiness and the entire data center environment
• Best practices review, creation of complete Run Book documentation
• Overview of your upgrade/patch position
• Optimization and tuning for VMware ESX Servers
• Server provisioning
• Capacity planning
• Development of backup and recovery policies, and a disaster-recovery plan
  

If you’d like to extend your experimental virtualization projects across your entire enterprise, CDI can help clarify the business benefits your company will derive—and then act to help you achieve them.

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