Admin
Early December, Quest Software released information following a survey that labeled cost savings, user demand and expectations and managing a mobile workforce as driving forces behind moving to virtual servers.
To Quest, the findings solidified the idea that server and desktop virtualization were moving into production instead of just being a concept. This conclusion is not far from suggestions by Tim Greene, a writer for Network World.
Since budgets are already set for the coming year, Greene believes this is the time to move to a virtual server and desktop model.
VMware reports have shown that businesses have yet to virtualize a majority of their servers and Gartner indicated that 40 percent of overall servers have been virtualized, the report said. That number will grow to 75 percent in 2015.
VMware provides virtualization services and currently holds contracts with the General Services Administration and the Defense Department, according to the company’s site. VMware also does business with the governments of California, Ohio and Texas.
Greene said virtualization is a strategic means to improve business efficiency. In order to make steps toward this structure, Greene believes businesses should be prepared to work with cloud providers and do the legwork.
Edwin Yuen, director of cloud and virtualization strategy for Microsoft, told Network World businesses need to plan how they will move from virtualization as new architectures arise such as private, public and hybrid clouds. Microsoft business with the government provides cloud and other services to the government.
Ramin Sayar, general manager and vice president for VMware, told InformationWeek virtualization is a three-phase journey. The first phase includes developing virtualization and realizing cost benefits. The second is delivering applications such as SAP and Oracle. The last phase is delivering comprehensive IT-as-a-Service.
Government agencies such as NASA have previously moved toward virtualizing server environments. In addition, recent moves to reduce and consolidate the number of physical data centers would result in packing more power into less space, as suggested in previous InformationWeek reports.
Red Hat, Cisco and Symantec, among others, also provide virtual service to the government.
