Virtualisation, The Why the How and the Who - Part 1 Why

Virtualisation means running software within a virtual environment. Virtual environments are created when operating systems and desktop applications are emulated, and don’t run directly on physical hardware. When software is virtualised, you can run several applications and operating systems on one physical server.

Opting to go Virtual isn't new, in fact many companies took the plunge very early and adopted virtualisation, some had real business reason; others had no real reason other than consolidation made sense.

So why now? The most obvious answer has to be with the current economic situation, our budgets are going to be stretched even further over the coming years, and virtualisation offers some obvious savings in terms of hardware costs. Another hidden gem in the savings department is licensing, Microsoft are making virtualisation more affordable with their licensing offerings.

• Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition - one licence allows you to run one host operating system and one virtual operating system per licensed device

• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition - one licence allows you to run one host operating system and up to four virtual operating systems (the virtual operating systems can be any prior version or edition of Windows Server 2003 R2)

• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition - one licence allows you to run one host operating system and unlimited* virtual operating systems

• Windows Server 2008 Itanium Edition - one licence allows you to run one host operating system and unlimited* virtual operating systems

• SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition SP2 - one licence allows you to run any number of instances in the host operating system and unlimited virtual operating systems

• BizTalk Server Enterprise Edition 2006 R2 - one licence allows you to run any number of instances in the host operating system and unlimited virtual operating systems


So virtualisation can help you to stretch your IT budget that little bit further.

Other considerations are power consumption, whilst a server capable of running virtual machines will inevitably use more power, there is still a huge saving to be made in power consumption, based on virtualising 10 servers onto one piece of hardware you can expect around an 80% power saving.

If we look at the UK's government commitment to carbon emissions and the carbon commitment due to hit businesses next year then virtualisation makes even more sense.

To see how the commitment will affect you click here
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/uk/bcs/pdf/crc_final_oct08_gben.pdf?ca=crc_gbs&me=w&met=landingpage
Even if it won't affect you morally we should all be taking action and doing as much as we can.

The IT industry is currently responsible for the same amount of carbon as the aviation industry, this is set to rise and IT will overtake the aviation industry very quickly.
Whilst there isn't much the airlines can do we on the other hand can.

Stay tuned for part 2 The How..........