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Technology

Virtualization 101

Virtualization 101We’ve never worked with a business that didn’t want more from their hardware or wanted to accomplish more with fewer resources on an already strained IT budget. This is when we suggest virtualization.

It’s far from a new concept, but one that continues to grow in popularity. Before implementing it, it’s a good idea to understand the basics and why so many businesses employ this technology.

What Virtualization Does

Starting with hypervisors in the 1960s, virtualization has grown throughout the decades and was made even more popular with the introduction of VMware. It allows a business to turn one computer, server or hard drive into several, at least virtually. Much like a computer runs multiple programs or apps at once, virtualization allows a computer to run multiple instances of itself at once.

Imagine having a server that’s only being 10% utilized at any given time. Through virtualization software, a business could divide the server into multiple independent virtual servers that share hardware resources, optimize server use and saves the business money from buying new servers.

Virtualization Benefits

Utilizing more business resources to maximize ROI sounds good, but there are other benefits. Some of the ones we find most important include:

  • Improved scalability
  • More flexible IT infrastructure
  • Improved productivity and efficiency
  • Faster response times for apps and files
  • Improved app compatibility
  • Easier to manage (less hardware is always easier)
  • Easier to backup and restore

While that’s not all, it does give you an introduction to the benefits.

Types Of Virtualization

While we’ve mainly talked about this from a server perspective, that’s not a business’s only option. There are also desktop, network, disk partitioning and app virtualization. All of these work on the same principle. For instance, with desktops, a single machine is split into multiple desktop environments and typically accessed remotely. For disk partitioning, a single hard drive is split among multiple users or computers to create independent work stations.

Implementing Virtualization

While there are tricky manual options involving using numerous tools to divide out resources, we feel it’s easier to use virtualization software. These tools are designed to help businesses create custom virtual instances to best suit the business’s needs. Plus, these tools make it far easier to manage the entire infrastructure.

Want to learn more about virtualization software? Learn more about our virtualization options and the software we’ve chosen to partner with.