Virtualisation

• Application
• Desktop
• Network & IO
• Platform
• Security
• Server
• Storage

More and more organisations are looking to virtualise and consolidate their computer infrastructure. The ability to centralise administrative tasks while improving scalability and workload seems an opportunity too good to miss. Add to this the current economical climate, where ‘austerity’ is the new buzzword, and you’ve got a proposition no forward-thinking organisation can ignore.

Virtualisation is an exciting business prospect. Not only does it provide substantially lower operational costs and increased business agility, there is also no danger of compromising your security and business operations.

We aim to make virtualisation as easy as possible to understand, design and deploy. Here, in a nutshell, is what we could do for you.

Server virtualisation can dramatically reduce the number of physical servers in your business. This is done by enabling multiple “virtual servers” to be run on a single, or reduced, number of machines. Each virtual server has its own operating system and applications are run with users having access via the network as normal. These multiple virtual servers are managed via a single management layer, or “hypervisor”.

With storage virtualisation, storage capacity is completely removed from the individual user or server. Instead, it is deployed in a single or shared pool. Storage capacity is allocated to, and accessed by, the user or server via the network and can be adjusted to meet demand at any given time. Proactively managed by the IT team, disk space can be fully utilised without wastage. The result? Capacity planning, data classification by importance, backup and restore, and peak-time balancing all become easier.

Businesses are increasing their adoption of Software as a Service (SaaS), driven by ease of deployment, flexibility, scalability and predictable pricing models. With cloud computing, services can be created that enable easy access to applications from virtually any location. Cloud services can also promote rapid innovation and support core business functions. The benefits of application virtualisation include ease of maintenance and greater portability, making programs easier to deploy.

Virtual Desktop infrastructure (VDI) consolidates large estates of desktop PCs onto a centralised server pool where every user has their own “virtual PC”. Instead of users having an expensive, dedicated, fully loaded PC on their desk, they access a full version of the operating system environment, including desktop applications, located remotely on the server.

Through network virtualisation, a dedicated “acceleration appliance” is deployed at each end of a network connection. This increases data transfer speed and the capacity of the connection without the expense of adding extra telecommunication bandwidth. Network acceleration underpins wider virtualisation strategies, enhances remote backup and disaster recovery performance whilst improving large file transfers and the overall user experience.

Virtualisation and the consolidation of your computer infrastructure could be your solution to make some significantly large savings. With less hardware costs you’ll see impressive resource savings on large unnecessary items. In addition, virtualisation will save you time, and therefore money, in routine hardware management and troubleshooting with fewer wasted man hours.

Technology is truly amazing, that is, when it’s all going well. Virtualisation proves invaluable when forces outside your control look to disrupt your day to day operation; namely, its uncanny ability to survive technological catastrophes. Because virtualisation makes networks and systems less likely to fail, it is invaluable to small and medium-sized businesses as it reduces the cost of downtime.

Because the virtualisation and consolidation of servers decreases the number of physical appliances that you need to buy and run, you are left with a much more compact datacentre. This, in turn, means dramatic decreases in cooling and electrical costs.

Virtualisation also means that you can create different operating system environments quicker than ever before. This is welcome news if you need to run legacy applications alongside new versions, migrate applications to new environments, or restore systems in post-disaster scenarios.