Lets Get Virtual

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this blog entry, I have complied information from the website of a TNS affiliate, VMware. In order to understand why virtualization is such a hot topic today, you first must understand exactly what it is, how it’s done, and why it is so hot right now like Derek Zoolander

What is Virtualization?

Virtualization is a proven software technology that is rapidly transforming the IT landscape and fundamentally changing the way that people compute. Today’s powerful x86 computer hardware was designed to run a single operating system and a single application. This leaves most machines vastly underutilized. Virtualization lets you run multiple virtual machines on a single physical machine, sharing the resources of that single computer across multiple environments. Different virtual machines can run different operating systems and multiple applications on the same physical computer. While others are leaping aboard the virtualization bandwagon now, VMware is the market leader in virtualization. Our technology is production-proven, used by more than 130,000 customers, including 100% of the Fortune 100. The VMware virtualization platform is built on a business-ready architecture. VMware virtualization works by inserting a thin layer of software directly on the computer hardware or on a host operating system. This contains a virtual machine monitor or “hypervisor” that allocates hardware resources dynamically and transparently. Multiple operating systems run concurrently on a single physical computer and share hardware resources with each other. By encapsulating an entire machine, including CPU, memory, operating system, and network devices, a virtual machine is completely compatible with all standard x86 operating systems, applications, and device drivers. You can safely run several operating systems and applications at the same time on a single computer, with each having access to the resources it needs when it

This is why virtualization is picking up speed. It not only presents immediate ROI for company executives by recouping energy costs, but allows information to flow more efficiently and be accessed whenever an employee needs it. Instead of running all applications on individual servers and crossing figures that one doesn’t crash, a virtualized server can run multiple applications and eliminates worry for IT managers.

A recent NY Times article discussed PrimaCloud, a cloud computing and storage product that offers a service-level agreement that it claims delivers 99.99 reliability (that means it can go down 53 minutes each year). The article reported that PrimaCloud said it will save $1 million by virtualizing its network and will spend 50 percent less to deliver its high reliability cloud. The company has installed boxes from Xsigo Systems that sit between the servers and switches and create a cloud through which the network traffic from the virtual machines loaded on the servers is routed. The network can handle traffic destined for other servers or for the storage network without requiring separate cables.

Virtualization is one of the many services offenders by The TNS Group. A full section of our website is devoted to virtualization. If seeing immediate return on investment, lowering energy costs, and allowing your business to run like the well oiled machine it is sound intriguing to you; check out our website and learn more about virtualizing your business. You will not be let down.

Joe Carretta