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All companies want to profit more. It is something basic for the survival of any business. And one of the ways to increase profits is to reduce costs and optimize resources. It was with this goal that technologies and techniques of virtualization arose.
In a company with several computers, most of them did not use even 50% of their computational capacity. Why not create virtual machines and emulate several of them using only hardware? It was from this problem that IT professionals developed several virtualization solutions present today.
In this blog post it will be presented some of the main benefits associated with service virtualization, as well as ways to measure cost reduction with the implementation of this type of technology. In the possession of this data, analysts and technology managers, can develop strategies to make projects more assertive.
Benefits of virtualization
Virtualization enables better use of physical resources, which increases agility and enables IT flexibility and scalability. In this way it is possible to reduce operating expenses, as well as maintenance and acquisition of physical hardware.
Virtualization enables hardware partitioning, enabling multiple operating systems to run on a physical machine, dividing system resources between virtual machines (VMs).
It also provides fault isolation and hardware-level security while preserving its performance through advanced resource controls. It also allows the recording in files of the integral state of the VM, guaranteeing facility to move them and to copy them, also for any other physical server.
Using fewer devices, data center management becomes much more practical and simpler, and can be all software-defined. This makes it easier to maintain data security and disaster prevention as information can be easily transported from one application to another. In this way, the organization itself has the possibility to grow sustainably, achieving more productivity and efficiency, not only in IT responsiveness, but in all areas.
Another important point in the process of service virtualization is the alignment with concepts associated with “Green IT”, which is a worldwide trend focused on reducing the impact of technological resources on the environment. One of the main benefits associated with virtualization is the reduction of the technological structure, reflecting in less energy consumption, also generating less volume of technological waste destined for recycling.
To get an idea of the impact of physical servers on the environment, consider a study by the NRDC – Natural Resources Defense Council, which identified that in the United States only the Internet servers consumed no less than 91 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2013. That amount of energy is enough to keep 91 billion 100-watt bulbs lit for 10 hours or more than 103 million of them all year round.
The economy generated by virtualization is reflected not only in entrepreneur’s cash, but also in the ecosystem of the entire planet.
How to Calculate the Economy Generated by Virtualization
That the virtualization of services can generate a great reduction of costs there is no doubt. But one of the great difficulties of IT analysts is to make a survey and justify investments in solutions like this.
Thinking about solving this dilema, the CIO blog presented some points that should be taken into account when evaluating the results that virtualization can generate.
Consumption-based cost: This is activity-based cost, where total IT spending is divided according to the volume of transactions, the number of users, the number of servers, or any other work unit that interferes with the operations of that department.
Service Costs Versus Infrastructure Costs: Service costs are those that vary according to consumption. And one way to account for them is to analyze idle capacity by separating base expenses, bandwidth, network access, and spaces in the data center, for example.
Infrastructure costs correspond to the factors necessary to maintain activities such as servers, licenses, storage, salaries of professionals, energy, physical space, depreciation and etc.
By listing all these costs and confronting the available virtualization solutions, you can have a more concrete idea of how much this option can generate savings for your business.
Finally, seek support from companies that provide virtualization consulting services. Thus, it is possible to implement the appropriate processes and tools to meet the needs of professionals and business. This will certainly guarantee the use of the best tools, reduction of the learning curve and consequently faster results, which lead to economy for the business.
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