Real-time computing. Real-time news.
June 25, 2007
Orchestrating Virtualization
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New virtualization technologies allow companies to deploy a few highly scalable, highly reliable, enterprise-class servers to do the same work that used to require a roomful of servers, each running an individual application and sitting idle whenever the application wasn't at work. With this capability, virtualization technologies promise less hardware to buy, provision and maintain -- contributing to enterprise cost savings, improved efficiency and an enhanced "green" factor.
But virtualization doesn't stop with server consolidation. Today's virtualization technologies enable a wide range of usage scenarios and benefits and can help distributed datacenters improve efficiency while cutting costs. However, as virtualization adoption grows, questions still remain. In fact, datacenter managers and CIOs are finding that virtualization makes it more difficult to confidently manage day-to-day tasks in the distributed datacenter, such as scheduling jobs, automating load balancing and accurately tracking where work is done.
To make the most of virtualization, organizations must employ the next breed of systems management tools that include desktop-to-datacenter management automation. Deploying datacenter management products with virtualization technology is the only way to save money and increase datacenter efficiency. These solutions deliver automated, policy-based management for physical and virtual distributed datacenter environments, giving organizations the tools they need to manage the complexity of their IT infrastructure.
An Old Idea Made Better -- A Lot Better
Virtualization is not a new concept. Techniques were commonly used throughout
the 1960s and 1970s to boost performance for shared mainframe systems. However,
as microprocessors became ever more powerful and affordable in the 1980s and
1990s, PC servers replaced mainframe and minicomputer systems. Moreover, as
x86-based servers became more affordable and ubiquitous, departments and
workgroups became accustomed to "owning" their own servers, and datacenters were distributed to bring the data closer to the people who needed it.
The result, for many companies, has been an alarming increase in sprawl, causing
many enterprise servers to be utilized at an appallingly low rate -- as little
as 15 percent capacity -- even while datacenters are stuffed to the rafters
with power-hungry servers.
As the costs continue to rise for housing, powering, cooling and maintaining all these servers, especially in distributed environments, many enterprises today are looking to transition to a usage-oriented computing model -- that is, an environment where computing resources can be dynamically reassigned to accommodate changing demands.
Virtualization is the keystone in this service-oriented dynamic computing model. Unlike the performance gains of first-generation virtualization technologies on mainframes that were confined to one “box," today's existing and emerging server virtualization technologies promise to bring unprecedented flexibility to the distributed enterprise datacenter, enabling new levels of cost efficiency and responsiveness across heterogeneous unique environments. In short, what many have only hoped for and imagined -- adaptive and responsive virtualization -- is here today.
From Lower Costs to Green Technology: The Promise of Virtualization
Few can deny the promises and benefits that virtualization brings to the datacenter. At a high level, virtualization provides flexibility and cost efficiency. For datacenter managers, business continuity is key. Virtualization can make their jobs easier by providing:
- Rapid application validation and deployment.
- Application portability.
- Dynamic load balancing.
- Failover with minimal service interruption.
- Extended life for legacy operating systems and hardware.
- Simplified physical infrastructure in a heterogeneous software environment.
Virtualization also lessens the burden corporations place on the environment. Analyst firm IDC estimates that the total power and cooling bill for servers in the United States costs a whopping $14 billion per year, and if the current trends persist, the bill is going to rise to $50 billion by the end of the decade. The energy needed to cool and fuel datacenters is enormous. Virtualization requires less space in the datacenter, and thus less electricity and cooling, which is better for the environment.
New virtualization technologies are rapidly emerging, giving rise to new industry organizations, like The Green Grid, which are committed to improving energy efficiency in the datacenter. Clean virtualization strategies, backed by technology consortiums, create new usage models that can transform the entire IT enterprise. Or, to put it more appropriately, virtualize the entire enterprise.
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