What is Virtualization?

There are many types of virtualization including server virtualization, application virtualization, desktop virtualization, operating system virtualization, presentation virtualization, etc. But, for the our purposes, we will focus on server virtualization.

A virtual server is basically the same as a physical server based on outward appearances. Virtual servers perform the same functions as physical servers. In fact, it is nearly impossible to distinguish a physical server from a virtual server when logged on to the server console (unless you start to go look at drivers).

The key difference between physical servers and virtual servers is that virtual servers are not installed on the physical hardware (they are hardware agnostic). Virtual servers are installed on something called a hypervisor. This hypervisor allows you to run many virtual servers on a single piece of physical hardware.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Analysis

It is no surprise that server virtualization lies at the heart of most cost-cutting initiatives and reducing carbon footprint in today's Government Agencies. In this analysis, we use three years as the useful life of a project or technology with the understanding that Government Agencies will see benefits beyond the three years. Our calculations are based on a consolidation project of 100 physical workloads with medium computing requirements and a 10:1 consolidation ratio of virtual machines (VMs) to physical servers. We will do a matrix comparison for total cost that apply to almost all Government Agencies:

• Servers
• Power and cooling

Server

Power and Cooling

Despite rapid advances in technology in past years, most servers still consume about 80 percent as much power while running at low utilization levels as they do when the systems are fully taxed.