virtualization

82 posts

A keyboard with the word trend spelled on it, illustrating notable trends in virtualization

Notable Trends in Virtualization

Notable trends in virtualization: 1. Hybrid clouds mature. The nature of hybrid clouds – meaning parts of your infrastructure are running in both public and private data centers – is getting more mature and sophisticated. New providers are springing up frequently, which make evaluating them all that much harder. Some are traditional hosting providers, other offer more virtualization expertise and some have built their own management tools around their services. One example: Terremark’s VMware-based computing […]

Close-up of airplane cockpit controls and instruments, illustrating optimizing the cloud

Optimizing the Cloud: Six Levers

Cloud computing is an on-demand, integrated, configured, ready-to-use combination of compute, storage, network, platform and application software available as a standardized set of service offerings on a pay-as-you-use pricing model. Cloud computing is altering the IT service delivery by providing rapid service delivery – provisioning resources takes few minutes instead several weeks, on demand scaling – businesses can scale up or scale down resources based on needs instead of provisioning for peak demand, consolidation of […]

A referee standing on a field with his hands in the air, illustrating functional IT teams in a virtualized world

Creating Functional Teams In A Cloudy, Virtualized World

Lately we’re talking to CIOs and IT managers who feel more like referees. It used to be, we just had to moderate between end users and security or the helpdesk. But now, as the data center evolves to include pervasive virtualization and a mix of in-house and cloud IT assets, the internal turf battles are threatening to KO agility advances. It’s unarguable that virtualization–on premises or in the cloud–has increased flexibility exponentially. Getting a new […]

A man standing in front of a white board, illustrating why you don't need a cloud strategy

Why You Don’t Need a Cloud Computing Strategy

As with any new exciting technology, companies commonly look towards creating a “strategy” around the movement in order to ensure their investments achieve the greatest ROI. In the 1990s, it was all about how companies needed a “Linux” strategy; the last decade has been dominated with companies needing a “virtualization” strategy; and the trend I’m seeing today is everyone talking about needing a “cloud computing” strategy. While this new saying is good news for large […]

A blue glass cloud icon with data layers above a silver padlock, illustrating the cloud as a safe place for data

Why the Cloud Is Actually the Safest Place for Your Data

Worried about your data? If you’re not, you’re kidding yourself. It’s become clear over the past few months that the risk of security breaches has reached a new and frightening level — from sophisticated tools in the hands of national governments and organized crime to spontaneous attacks harnessing the resources of thousands of loosely connected vigilantes. Add to that the dizzying array of devices now used to access, move and store data. Security strategies that […]

Control room with monitors and chairs, illustrating the cloud and mainframe computing

Is the Cloud Really Just the Return of Mainframe Computing?

If you came here for the article with the title, “Is the Cloud Really Just the Return of Mainframe Computing?’, unfortunately, it has been removed at the request of the publisher of the website from which it was obtained. Asking me to remove it was within their rights, but I believe it was a shortsighted decision based on old media ideas about the copyright “protection” of assets and the imagined potential loss of ad revenue. […]

Shelves of fresh oranges, apples, lemons, and limes in a grocery store, illustrating Target's server virtualization

Target Uses Virtualization to Eliminate 8,650 Servers

Target Corp. recently implemented virtualization technologies by Microsoft to run business-critical applications for all 1,755 stores. Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V was added to help deploy and manage applications more quickly, eliminating 8,650 physical servers. Microsoft System Center was integrated to manage and patch endpoints. With these technologies, Target’s IT department has greater agility and economies of scale. “Target’s investment in Hyper-V is a result of the strong technology partnership between our two companies,” says […]

A black stick figure with hands on head beside three colorful question marks, illustrating hosted desktop strategy questions

Hosted Desktop Strategy Questions

One of the challenges of evaluating cloud computing and the use of hosted desktops in the small business enterprise is understanding not only the business case ROI, but the operational impact. Here are 30 questions to assist you in thinking through the issues associated with deploying hosted desktops. First some definitions: VDI, Virtual Desktop infrastructure = Dedicated Virtual Desktop (hosted desktop) There are two kinds of VDI: server-hosted and client-side. A Server-Hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure […]

Person using stylus on tablet with charts, illustrating the iPad's role in desktop virtualization

The iPad’s Role In Catalyzing Desktop Virtualization

The desktop virtualization market was chugging along at a decent albeit unspectacular pace before Apple’s iPad arrived and helped crystallize the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) concept. Since then, the iPad has become the main onramp for companies looking to mobilize their work forces through the use of virtualization. Executives were the first to bring the iPad into the workplace, but before long all types of employees were clamoring for the ability to access corporate […]