Emerging Technologies
Virtualization and Cloud Computing

You may have heard the terms "Virtualization" and "Cloud Computing" lately as they seem to be at the forefront of discussion in technology related forums, publications, seminars and conferences. What are these technologies, and how do they affect small businesses?

Virtualization

Virtualization refers to running multiple operating systems (Linux, Windows and others) simultaneously on a single physical machine. Virtualization has the potential for serious economic benefits as it consolidates hardware maintenance costs and is more space-efficient. It is also a very green technology, as a single box running multiple applications is both more energy efficient and less equipment intensive than running multiple boxes to get the same result. By separating out applications across virtual machines, one application that crashes or behaves unpredictably doesn't impact other applications running on the same machine, because they live in their own isolated environment.

Since Microsoft's Virtualization product "Hyper-V" is included with Windows Server 2008, implementation is quick and easy. With flexible licensing policies, it's easier than ever to take advantage of this hot technology.

Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is all the rage. "It's become the phrase du jour," says Gartner senior analyst Ben Pring. But there is still confusion about what the cloud is, and how it should be used. Adding to the confusion is that Cloud Computing goes by other names, such as SaaS (Software as a Service), utility computing, or sometimes "computing-on-demand". Whatever name it goes by, Gartner defines Cloud Computing as "a style of computing in which massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided 'as a service' using Internet technologies to multiple external customers",

What does all that mean? Well, the cloud is not really a technology by itself. Rather, it is an approach to building IT services that harnesses the increasing horsepower of servers as well as virtualization technologies that combine many servers into larger computing pools and divide single servers into multiple virtual machines that can be spun up and powered down at will.

Cloud Computing can be divided into public and private clouds. A public cloud is a service that anyone can tap into. "Public clouds are shared infrastructures with pay-as-you-go economics," explains Forrester analyst James Staten in an April report.

But many businesses both large and small are finding advantages of Cloud Computing, either as an end-user consuming public Cloud Computing services, or in implementing their own private clouds. A private cloud attempts to mimic the delivery models of public cloud vendors but does so entirely within the firewall for the benefit of that business' users. A private cloud is a highly virtualized combination of multiple pieces of IT infrastructure into one or a few easily managed logical resource pools. And according to Russ Daniels, CTO of HP’s Cloud Services Strategy, all users can benefit since most of the computing work is not done on a user’s machine but out in the cloud, so you can worry less about the limitations of that one particular machine, making it easier to provide a consistent user experience even if your PC is a littler older.

Dell is currently a leader in Cloud Computing technologies, and a supplier to companies such as Facebook and Salesforce.com. Forrest Norrod, vice president and GM of data center solutions at Dell, pointed to recent Dell acquisitions--Message One, Silverback Technologies, and Everdream--as examples of Dell's focus on software, not just the hardware piece. Jonathan Heiliger, Facebook's vice president of technical operations, says of Dell, "[they are] doing the most aggressive things possible to optimize for Cloud Computing… We think Dell is perhaps the furthest along and we see them as a thought leader." Facebook has more than 10,000 servers, Heiliger said, and it's safe to assume any of them come from Dell.

As king County's largest Certified Dell Partner, Digital Seattle has access to the tools, resources, and large knowledge-base of experience from one of the premier suppliers of virtualization and Cloud Computing technologies.

If you'd like to find out more, or talk to one of our technology consultants to see how these buzzword technologies can make your business run more efficiently, contact us at: 206.709.9556 or e-mail info@digitalseattle.com.

Digital Seattle is an IT support and managed information technology provider serving Western Washington's small to medium-sized businesses throughout the greater Puget Sound area, including Seattle, Bellevue, Tukwila, Burien and surrounding areas.