It may surprise you to learn that the average server computer operates at between 5-15% of its capacity. Fortunately, there is a way to utilize the rest of the machine more efficiently.
Virtualization is the process of deploying multiple separate servers into one physical server container. Why pay for and maintain a handful of servers when one will suffice? The benefits are many: lower maintenance and hardware acquisitions costs, higher efficiency, a smaller server footprint, lower energy costs, improve disaster recovery, isolate separate server applications (which aids modular system design practices), and even enables additional licensing options for otherwise expensive software solutions.
As an example, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and 2014 Standard have a cpu core licensing model which are valued at approximately $4,700 CDN for every two CPU cores. Most modern servers start with four or eight cores (or even more), so to run SQL server with this licensing model, to license the software would cost nearly $10,000-$20,000. This is where virtualization excels. By installing the software to a Virtual Host, you can limit the number of processes it has access to, thereby eliminating $5,000-$15,000 of licensing costs — before even accounting for the other cost-saving benefits.
Advantages of Virtualization
- Reduce hardware maintenance costs
- Reduce power consumption
- Faster server deployment
- Eliminate hardware vendor lock-in
- Increase uptime
- Improve Disaster Recovery
- Isolate Services/Applications
- Prolong life of legacy applications
Already using virtualization? Great! We’re experienced with both Hyper-V and VMware platforms.
