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Readers of Virtualization View on the web have been able to keep abreast of the latest developments in virtualization and learn about the numerous ways that virtualization can reduce complexity in the data center, consolidate hardware and software, and deliver improved service levels.
With this installment, Virtualization View marks its debut as a podcast so you can follow IBM Virtualization when you're on the go. Download the MP3 file to your digital music player or other device.
In this podcast, IBM's Tom Ready, vice president of worldwide server services, discusses why the subject of virtualization, a technology that IBM pioneered more than 40 years ago, has caught fire in today's IT marketplace.
A Necessity, Not an Option
In large measure, today's interest in virtualization stems from the fact that more servers have been shipped in the past four years than in the previous ten years. While this expansion in deployment of servers has enabled global supply chains to grow in functionality and has powered the expansion of online commerce, it has also spawned a new malady-server sprawl-whose symptoms include higher hardware and software licensing costs, increased power and cooling requirements, greater requirements for specialized maintenance on systems, and growth of data "silos" within data centers. This is the hidden cost of today's data centers: complexity. In other words, too many servers running at utilization rates that are far too low-typically 10% to 20%.
With today's close scrutiny of operating costs, the old way of meeting the challenges of the data center by simply buying a box whenever a new application was implemented or a business line required a higher level of service functionality from an IT system no longer works.
In this environment, virtualization-using the untapped processing of physical servers to create logical partitions of virtual servers to handle other applications and workloads-is rapidly becoming a necessity rather than an option. Ready cites financial services companies in the United Kingdom that have implemented virtualization together with IBM products and witnessed a 30% reduction in their power consumption and a 50% increase in the productivity of their IT staffs. Similarly, a healthcare company in Pennsylvania has experienced similar gains in productivity and efficiency.
As Ready points out, the hardest part of virtualization is often making a firm decision to implement virtualization in your data center. Often these impediments to virtualization start with a nagging doubt: do you have the skill to implement it seamlessly? No business can afford a solution "upgrade" that only substitutes new problems for old problems. Between the client's understanding of the peak workload periods and business processes and IBM's leadership in successful implementations of virtualization, the skills are clearly on-hand to virtualize a data center. After all, IBM introduced virtualization 40 years ago in the mainframe environment with the virtual machine 360. IBM understands what it takes to merge divergent workloads on a common platform, as well as the challenges that arise from working with the data center's internal customers.
Custom Solutions from Experienced Experts
The data center and business needs are constantly changing. Even though virtualization will be returning handsomely on the initial investment, it is useful to check up periodically, because workloads-and demands on data centers-will continue to grow.
With IBM Global Technology Services, clients get the benefit of expertise based on years of experience in implementing virtualization, and also a thorough understanding of Systems p and z, as well as IBM partner products and even the products of its competitors. IBM can help you virtualize your infrastructure regardless of what you have or what you may need.
However, virtualization is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. IBM keenly understands this and prepares a case-by-case assessment of how each client should approach virtualization. Perhaps one of the most distinguishing features of IBM Virtualization is its commitment to the client and the follow-up once virtualization has been implemented. The data center and business needs are constantly changing. Even though virtualization will be returning handsomely on the initial investment, it is useful to check up periodically, because workloads-and demands on data centers-will continue to grow. Periodic check-ups are vital to prevent server sprawl from creeping back into the data center.
IBM can also step in to assist new clients who are halfway through an implementation of virtualization and are encountering challenges. Afterwards, IBM can even come back to help them measure the benefits they are getting from virtualization.
As Ready points out, research consistently identifies virtualization as one of businesses' top three or four areas of interest in the near future. What better partner to assist you in combating server sprawl and complexity than the IT company that has a longer track record in virtualization than anyone else? That's IBM, of course.
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