1. Info-Tech Research Group1 Get the Most out of Server Virtualization Develop a strategy to move infrastructure from a virtual fantasy to a virtual reality.

2. Info-Tech Research Group2 Server virtualization has gone from hot emerging trend to mainstream reality. As virtual infrastructure becomes core infrastructure, focus investment on getting the most benefit at the lowest total cost Introduction Organizations planning to implement server virtualization. Organizations looking to advance their server virtualization strategy into production environments. Organizations looking to server virtualization as a foundation for cloud computing. Understand benefits of server virtualization from consolidation, through management efficiency to enabling private cloud. Dive deeper into major considerations for implementing each phase of virtualization, to weigh the benefits against the costs of achieving those benefits. Assess current readiness and future goals for virtualization, and understand best practices and pitfalls of implementation. Identify key players and market trends. This Research Is Designed For:This Research Will Help You:

3. Info-Tech Research Group3 Executive Summary Server virtualization is mainstream. Implementers have virtualized over half of their workloads (58%), including production workloads (52%). To get the most out of this trend, it is critical to understand the costs and benefits of moving from virtualization for server consolidation, to managing a virtual infrastructure, to building an internal cloud. Assess your current readiness and business-related goals to determine what phase of virtualization is right for you. Develop a Server Virtualization Roadmap Over 70% of organizations, with less than 20% of workloads virtualized, are seeing consolidation benefits, including CAPEX and OPEX savings through fewer servers to purchase and manage. These numbers rise with more virtualization. Consolidate for Cost Savings As organizations get more virtualized, it can be important to purchase management software to get a handle on virtual server sprawl and capacity planning. Many implement virtualization for these management benefits alone. Manage Virtual Infrastructure for Agility, Reliability Most organizations don’t need an internal cloud, or even fully understand what that is; however, 76% of organizations state that Internal Cloud will be their first “cloud” priority, according to an Info-Tech Survey. Determine whether Internal Cloud is Right for You In engaging vendors, map your strategic requirements against the features and functionality offered by the top virtual server software providers. Develop a Vendor Engagement Strategy

4. Info-Tech Research Group4 1. Consolidation: The focus is on transitioning server workloads to virtual machines (VMs) and getting the most out of the hardware (most VMs per host). Capacity analysis and P2V (physical to virtual) migration tools and features that boost consolidation ratio are most important value add features in this phase. 2. Management: Virtual infrastructure has become a core technology hosting production servers. Rapid agile provisioning, resource scheduling and load balancing, and high availability are key features in this phase. Optimization of shared storage resources is also critical. 3. Internal Cloud: Focus shifts to end-to-end management of complete systems from application through VMs to hardware. Performance monitoring for service level maintenance as well as management automation and self-service are key to building Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Automated cost accounting for chargeback or showback also brings cloud-like capability to the virtual infrastructure. Establish server virtualization goals by evaluating how each progressive phase will deliver value to the enterprise Effective server virtualization strategy involves three investment decision points, each contributing to overall value Source: Info-Tech Research Group

5. Info-Tech Research Group5 Develop a comprehensive server virtualization strategy, as virtualization of your infrastructure is an inevitability Server virtualization is ready for mission-critical. On average, more than 50% of production machines are virtual for those investing in server virtualization. This is because virtualization has been tested in the field and vendors are providing features that ensure availability and reliability of VM workloads. Database app virtualization is commonplace. Two years ago most were avoiding virtualization of high transaction workloads, such as Microsoft SQL or Oracle databases. However, advancements in processor capabilities (2 processors are often sufficient) from hardware and memory management from virtualization vendors have enabled VMs to handle these dense workloads, if managed correctly. Info-Tech regularly speaks with clients that have virtualized these apps, as well as Microsoft Exchange and others. Size is a factor, but not a game changer. Small and large enterprises are, on average, deploying at similar proportions of virtual to physical machines. However, large companies virtualize at a slower rate, as hardware refresh cycles are incremental and training must take place on a larger scale. Small organizations virtualize quickly once they begin, and rapidly progress to the management phase. They have fewer servers to consolidate but want the agility and availability benefits of a virtual infrastructure. Organizations implementing server virtualization are, on average, 58% virtualized, up from 44% in 2011, according to an Info-Tech survey Organizations are gradually increasing the proportion of virtualized infrastructure Source: Info-Tech Research Group

6. Info-Tech Research Group6 What’s in this Section:Sections: Develop a Sound Server Virtualization Strategy Develop a Virtualization Roadmap Consolidate for Cost Savings Manage your Virtual Infrastructure Forecast your Readiness for Internal Cloud Develop a Vendor Engagement Strategy Understand the benefits and costs of server virtualization. Learn best practices and challenges that have affected other organizations as they move their virtual environments to 100% virtualized. Assess your current readiness and business-related goals for virtualization to determine what phase is right for you.

7. Info-Tech Research Group7 Benefits can be grouped into three broad categories: Enterprises are realizing significant benefits from server virtualization beyond basic CAPEX savings from consolidation 1. Consolidation Benefits: For new server hardware, more can be done with less as multiple workloads (running on VMs) more effectively utilize shared physical servers. CAPEX savings can range from 40% to 75%. 2. Management Benefits: Virtual Machines can be created and configured much more rapidly than physical servers. High availability and rapid recovery can also be architected much more cheaply than physical servers. This has time and cost savings benefits for ongoing management and business continuity planning. 3. Automation (Internal Cloud) Benefits: Virtualization vendors are incorporating automation, self- service, and cost accounting (metering) features into their management stacks to enable the creation of cloud-like internal services. Vendors, such as VMware and Citrix, are also working on standards and functionality to bridge between these internal clouds and public IaaS clouds. Reduced CAPEX (fewer server purchases) Lowered OPEX (fewer servers to manage) Energy Savings (smaller footprint) Easier server maintenance Faster app provisioning Improved app performance Higher availability More reliable DR capabilities Streamlined capacity management/planning Automated virtual server management User self service Improved visibility for metering/charge-backs

8. Info-Tech Research Group8 Server virtualization brings additive benefits: Cost savings through consolidation are most often associated with initial stages of virtualization because these benefits are used to make the business case. However, capital and operational savings continue as a greater proportion of the infrastructure is virtualized because further hardware refreshes are avoided. Management capabilities can be a primary driver: It’s simple math. Virtualizing more servers means there are more virtual servers to benefit from better management. In addition, improved availability for DR and simplified app delivery are often sufficient to justify investment in server virtualization. This is especially true for those with smaller server footprints or without an impending server refresh, where server consolidation would not bring immediate savings. Internal clouds are qualitative upgrades: Implementing internal cloud functionality is dependent on specific use cases for automation, self service and app lifecycle management. Becoming more virtualized does not introduce pain points that are solved by internal cloud. Consolidation & management benefits become more evident as virtualization increases Consolidation & management benefits become more compelling as an organization gets more virtualized As organizations move beyond consolidation into a managed virtual server infrastructure and beyond, consolidation continues to deliver value Percent Virtualized Percent of Organizations Achieving Set of Benefits Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 148

9. Info-Tech Research Group9 Beware! Total costs also escalate along with benefits in moving to managed virtual infrastructure & internal cloud Consolidation reduces server costs, but many organizations require big ticket storage & networking to support a managed virtual environment Consolidation Costs: Purchase of higher-performance servers is an obvious up front cost. However, virtualization is an additional layer of complexity and software knowledge that adds to the necessary skill set of IT. Invest in proper training up front, so staff can later ramp up proficiently into a managed virtual environment as things progress. Management Costs: Shared storage & networking will need to be optimized for a virtual environment to capitalize on advanced management features, such as dynamic resource allocation, power management, and automated site recovery. Internal Cloud Costs: Implementation of advanced automation requires that the IT group has developed standard policy for their previously manual tasks. In addition, as a prerequisite to self service provisioning, IT must have established service tiers and a service catalog based on business requirements for its apps. Both initiatives require significant resources to develop. Source: Info-Tech Research Group

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