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It's easy to get lost in the world of virtualization. After all, the word is increasingly being applied to all sorts of situations and applications.
Recognizing the problem, Daniel Kusnetzky of the 451 Group has created an accessible framework that sorts out the various layers of virtualization that deserve our consideration. Each level of the model represents a different opportunity to implement virtualization.
According to Kusnetzky, virtualization can be applied to address "performance, reliability/availability, scalability, consolidation, agility, a unified management domain or some other goal." As he explains, each level offers different benefits:
- Access Virtualization — hardware and software technology enabling just about any device to access just about any application. While the application can see the device, the device knows how to display it. Special purpose hardware may be necessary on each side of the network connection to enhance performance, enabling many users to share a single client system or allowing a single individual to see multiple displays.
- Application Virtualization — software technology enabling applications to run on many different operating systems and hardware platforms. This usually means that the application has been written to use an application framework. It also means that applications running on the same system that do not use this framework do not get the benefits of application virtualization.
- Processing Virtualization — hardware and software technology that hides physical hardware configuration from system services, operating systems or applications. This type of virtualization technology can make one system appear to be many or many systems appear to be a single computing resource to achieve goals ranging from raw performance, high levels of scalability, reliability/availability, agility or consolidation of multiple environments onto a single system.
- Storage Virtualization — hardware and software technology that hides where storage systems are and what type of device is actually storing applications and data. This technology also makes it possible for many systems to share the same storage devices without knowing that others are also accessing them.
- Network Virtualization — hardware and software technology that presents a view of the network that differs from the physical view. So, a personal computer may be allowed to only “see” systems it is allowed to access.
- Management of virtualized environments — software technology that makes it possible for multiple systems to be provisioned and managed as if they were a single computing resource.
While these technologies have been available in various forms for almost three decades, they are now widely available for industry-standard applications. Such availability is clearly contributing to the ongoing wave of virtualization that is transforming IT.
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Explosive growth of data and processing requirements is driving the need for a new architectural approach to IT infrastructures. The approach of mapping single servers to specific applications simply cannot meet the increasing demands for resources and dynamic response to business needs. Data center virtualization is the solution.
Virtualized architectures offer scalable and cost effective processing platforms. However, that just scratches the surface. Beyond the obvious benefits of scale, virtualization offers:
- Agile response: Dynamic businesses require quick response. Thanks to virtualization, IT teams can respond to new user and business demands for applications, services and more. Changes in applications, workflows, software revisions, desktop configurations and more are straightforward to deploy and immediately available across the entire infrastructure.
- Reduced capital and operating costs: Virtual platforms deliver new levels of utilization and performance. Servers that were once 30% utilized reach 80% plus within a virtual infrastructure. With this increase in ROI, costs for power, space and capital are reduced. Management costs are also dramatically reduced, allowing IT staff to focus on innovation and next generation services instead of day-to-day system and resource management.
- Business Continuity: Virtualized architectures offer affordable alternatives to traditional redundant data centers. Virtual resources act as backup resources across the infrastructure, enabling planned and unplanned downtime with minimal, if any, impact on service delivery.
Virtualization isn’t a new concept. Service providers offered virtualized access to outsourced applications and services nearly a decade ago. Today, a wide number of vendors offer virtualization software, off-the-shelf hardware components and networking solutions that enable an IT staff to integrate and create a virtualized data center.
But the benefits of virtualization are not all in place, yet. The movement to blade servers and storage appliances improves overall ROI while simplifying management. Reduction to costs is important – but there is more to come.
The ultimate benefits of virtualization will come from an automated, ‘lights out’ approach to delivering IT services. Early tools for automation are being deployed by a number of independent vendors. The rewards from virtualization will continue to increase as these tools come to market, are improved and refined, and as they reach ‘standard’ levels for interoperability.
Still, for the near-term, the best approach to data center virtualization is to work with partners who are experts in the design and deployment of virtualized infrastructures.
It’s clear that the time for virtualization is now. The opportunity to improve results from reductions to capital expense, ensuring business continuity and improved agility that enables IT to quickly meet business needs are definitely within reach.
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