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February 2015
PURCHASING SERVERS
IN A VIRTUALIZED WORLD
With virtualization taking over networks, storage and servers, the software-
defined data center is on the rise. This inevitably affects IT buying decisions.
BY CLIVE LONGBOTTOM
Too Good
D D Moving On to
to Be True Purchasing
Rationalizing
D Persisting Needs
D
Applications
I
HOW VIRTUALIZATION CHANGES HARDWARE PURCHASES
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Rationalizing
Applications
Moving On to
Purchasing
Persisting Needs
F YOU ARE still running physical serv- thats the accepted line when the discussion turns to virtual-
ers, take a look at the CPU utilization izations effect on purchasing. Not only that, but IT will also
rates for these machines. At peak, be told that software manages everything else. Applications
youre probably maxed out at 100%, needing more resources can just have them applied in real
meaning application performance time via the resource pools; the need for systems engineer-
is suffering. Averaged out over a week or so, however, you ing is lessened to the point of not being an issue at all.
might find that theyre running at less than 10%.
To remedy this waste of resources, IT admins have turned
to virtualization. By taking available resources and making TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
them accessible as pools usable by multiple applications, In a perfect world, the aforementioned scenario would
the utilization rates (of servers, storage and networks) are occur without a hitch. However, this isnt usually the case.
increased. Subsequently, this increased efficiency can lead Virtualization cannot solve every problem. What it does do
to a halving of required hardware, with the concomitant re- is provide flexibility for dealing with the unavoidable issues
duction in energy, licenses, system admins, and other costs that come with an IT platform.
associated with owning all of the equipment. So, what does this mean regarding the purchasing of IT
Virtualization is a great tool, provided it is used correctly. systems? The cookie-cutter approach may not work for your
IT is commoditizing and all that is needed is an estate of IT infrastructure. Basing it on scale-out commodity equip-
low-cost servers, storage and network switchesor at least ment will only work in certain areas; you will still need good
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