<p>Virtualization is the technology, which allows companies’ business application to be managed by host’s hardware. It allows companies of all sizes to cut costs, improve IT services and manage risk. <em><strong>It reduces cost for hardware, space and energy usage. For small and medium sized businesses, the technology brings a variety of capabilities and ROI benefits, and also facilitates them to keep their competitive edge in the marketplace.</strong></em><br /> <br />According to latest data, approximately 20 percent of the servers are now virtualized and will double over the next two years. With virtualization, multiple applications can share a single physical server therefore the workloads of SMBs can be moved from one host to another without downtime. <strong>The adoption of virtualization on x86 platforms provides advantages to SMBs like fewer and better servers, reasonable business continuity and efficient management.<br /> </strong><br /><u><strong>Virtualization benefits to the SMBs</strong></u><br /><br />Today, virtualization has become a critical IT strategy not only for large enterprises but also for small and mid-sized businesses. In addition to cost savings, it also allows companies to eliminate planned downtime for hardware maintenance. Further, various software giants like Microsoft, IBM, Intel and VMware are simplifying the transition to virtualization for SMBs to test and implement disaster recovery plans, data restoration and balance real-time workloads.<br /><br /><strong>The virtualization technology can be implemented for servers or for operating systems (OS), called hypervisor-based virtual machines. Hypervisor or virtual machine monitor (VMM) allows multiple or guest operating systems to run on a host computer concurrently. Also, it can mix various versions of Windows and Linux simultaneously.</strong><br /><br />Since 2004, the virtualization technology has transformed dramatically. With one server with a quad-core Xeon 5500 series processor, a company can take same amount of work that once required eleven single-core servers. Therefore, the new processor can provide ROI in just two years.<br /><br /><em><strong>According to the research firm, Gartner, in 2009, worldwide virtualization software revenue will increase 43 percent from $1.9 billion in 2008 to $2.7 billion and the also ranked the technology as the number one strategic technology for next year.</strong></em><br /><br /><u><strong>Microsoft Virtualization Tools</strong></u><br /><br />With <strong>Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V</strong>, Microsoft helps customers to save their cost and improve business continuity by providing an end-to-end virtualization platform. In February, 2008 Microsoft had introduced the successor of Windows Server 2003 called Windows Server 2008. Its updated version named Windows Server 2008 R2, was released to manufacturing on August 14, 2009 and is due for release on October 22nd. The company has also said that its end-to-end technologies and solutions allow broader opportunities with strong partner support.<br /><br /><u><strong>IBM-VMware Solutions</strong></u><br /><br />The <strong>IBM X-Architecture</strong> provides support for small to very large workloads and also IT to consolidate many x86 server workloads onto a single machine. Further, VMware Infrastructure, with IBM System x and BladeCenter platforms, offers SMBs a flexible and cost-effective development platform for virtualization. <strong>VMware VMotion</strong> also helps to move running virtual machines between physical hosts. <br /><br /><u><strong>Conclusion</strong></u><br /><br />Like big organizations, now SMBs can also implement a virtualization strategy. Today, the virtualization technology is the key element for the IT strategy for all businesses. It helps SMBs to build an IT infrastructure with enterprise class potential with appropriate ROI.</p><strong>About the Author:</strong><br /><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.itvoir.com/portal/" rel="nofollow">http://www.itvoir.com/portal/</a>
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