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6: A Most-Significant Step—“Virtualizing” Your IT Systems 103

revenue (2007 data). However, blade server factory revenue continues to
grow rapidly, according to IDC.

Virtualizing Blade Servers?

As we discussed previously in this chapter, server virtualization enables
servers to be converted into pools of logical computing resources. Through
the use of virtualization software, a single server can be logically divided up
into multiple virtual devices. This enables the same hardware device to run
multiple operating systems and applications—each independently of the
others—as if they were on physically separate devices.
As we also discussed in this chapter, server virtualization offers a host of
potential benefits. Virtualization more efficiently employs IT resources to
improve asset utilization and simplify management of the data center. It can
help improve operational availability by providing flexible resources and
software tools that automatically assess when servers need additional
resources, and adjust capacity in real time. This alleviates potential bottle-
necks and the slowing of systems due to over-provisioning.
ptg
Business Continuity—Disaster Recovery
Beyond cost savings, disaster recovery, business continuity, and data recov-
ery are other reasons companies use server virtualization. The same technol-
ogy is used for virtualizing desktops that go into the data center. Many
companies have two physical PCs for one person. Virtualization can eliminate
one of those. You can run multiple environments on a single device.
Developers, in particular, need multiple environments. Virtualization enables
you to take a desktop PC off a person’s desk and move it into a data center.
There are a lot of manageability benefits to this. The key use cases that are
most commonly mentioned for server virtualization are server consolidation,
business continuity and disaster recovery, software lab automation, and the
desktop scenarios. The two ways to leverage virtualization for desktops
include running virtualization on the desktop so that you can have multiple
environments on a single system, and running desktop environments on
servers accessed via thin clients—what we refer to as virtual desktop infra-
structure, or VDI. VDI helps organizations by making it easier for them
to manage, secure, and protect desktop environments. Developers and call
centers are two examples of where businesses have been deploying VDI solu-
tions. Another benefit of server virtualization is increased agility.