The Buzz Surrounding Virtualization

Monty Blight, Peak 10 -- September 3, 2007

The bankers faced a difficult decision. VMware, Inc. was about to go public and needed to set the price. The roadshow had been very well received but the market was down and many were predicting more bad news. On the eve of the offering, optimism won and the bankers raised their initial price from $24 to $29. Good call. By the end of the first trading day, shares closed at $51. A week later, VMware is trading at $66.

So, why the buzz?

VMware is the industry leader in virtualization and the market is booming.

Virtualization allows multiple operating system instances to run concurrently on a single computer; it is a means of separating hardware from a single operating system and allows for massive consolidation. The instances or "virtual machines" or "VMs" are provisioned within a single server (the "host") and can be adjusted within the host or moved between hosts.

The result is 1) more efficient hardware use, 2) clustered virtual machines for high availability, 3) reduced scheduled downtime, and 4) easier server management.

Hardware Efficiency - Most technology professionals agree that the typical application and O/S on a server are using less than 15% of the processing power. Virtualization allows companies to stack multiple virtual machines on a single host and maximize hardware. If a company has multiple hosts, a new VM finds the memory it needs and provisions accordingly.

High Availability and Performance - Production data lives on a SAN, separate from the hosts. This allows tremendous flexibility and service optimization. VMs can be clustered for automatic failover, either within a single host or across multiple physical servers. Overloaded hosts get relief from automated workload balancing.

Reduced Maintenance - Not only is provisioning quick and easy (VMs spun up in about 20 minutes) but live, running virtual machines can be moved. This means that in a multiple host environment, VMs can be moved from one box to another, while hardware maintenance is performed resulting in continuous service availability.

Server Management - Remote management technology is not new but virtualization eases the process and has more scale. Once the hosts are racked and the virtualization software is loaded, the virtualization console allows engineers to provision new VMs, dynamically move workloads, secure the environment with access control and fully manage hundreds of "servers."

Is virtualization right for you?

Based on the above, the better question is why wouldn't you use virtualization? There are a couple of reasons. Virtualization requires expertise, typically a new skill set for most organizations. Since one engineer is a single point of failure, a fair amount of investment of time and money is required. To fully take advantage of virtualization, the host servers should be robust. You can't get by on the cheap. And virtualization software also requires one additional layer of software licensing. Most companies find, however, that the additional cost of robust hardware, the production SAN, and the software licensing is quickly offset by the efficiency, high availability, scalability and ease of server management.

As a managed services provider, virtualization is a key component to Peak 10's product set. We help clients in a couple of different ways. The first is a traditional dedicated server offering. But instead of white boxes and a storeroom of spare parts, Peak 10 provides virtual machines on a shared platform. This is used in both the production and backup setting. Other clients choose to buy their own dedicated platform but don't have the virtualization expertise or depth to manage it. They look to Peak 10 to manage both their "servers" and the virtual platform. Finally, our Microsoft Hosting practice now offers its "lights out" hosting service on either the traditional physical server platform, Peak 10's shared virtual platform, or managed VMs on customer provided hardware.

So that's what the buzz is about. While virtualization is not the right answer for everybody, the rate of adoption has been rapid and should only increase. At least that's what the stock pickers seem to think and when have they ever been wrong?

Monty Blight is the Vice President and General Manager of Managed Services at Peak 10, the leading independent data center operator and managed services provider. Peak 10 delivers solutions for hosting and managing complex information technology infrastructures. Monty Blight can be reached at (704) 264-1016 or by e-mail at monty.blight@peak10.com.