10 Benefits of Virtualization for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses
While server virtualization is certainly not new technology, perhaps you have ignored it up until now, assuming that its benefits only apply to large enterprises. However, this is not the case: smaller businesses can benefit just as much from server virtualization as their larger counterparts, if not more so. Let's review 10 benefits of server virtualization, while keeping in mind the things that may matter the most to business leaders.
1. Save on Energy Costs
The cost of powering servers can make up a significant chunk of any data center’s operating budget. Fortunately, it’s one cost the data center admin can do something about. By using virtualization to replace physical servers, business leaders can put precious funding back into their budgets.
2. Reduce the Data Center Footprint
Just like the last item in this post, using virtualization to
reduce data center footprint can lead to important cost savings for organizations. This is particularly true if you buy server space in a colocated data center. In this case, you could instantly cut the amount you have to pay.
3. Less Chance of Vendor Lock-in
Since small and mid-sized businesses lack the buying power of their larger counterparts, flexibility when choosing vendors is key. By decreasing the need to invest in more physical infrastructure that can be difficult to replace, organizations can keep their options open, so that they’re always able to go after a better deal when it presents itself.
4. Better Disaster Recovery Options
While smaller businesses may have less data to store, the
costs of losing that data in the aftermath of a disaster can be equally detrimental. Virtualization helps businesses move their vital business data to offsite disaster recovery locations, keeping it safe from threats.
5. Take the First Step Toward the Cloud
The business
benefits of cloud computing have been widely publicized, but like server virtualization, many small business leaders simply think that cloud is not for them. By moving toward a virtualized data center, these SMBs will also be opening themselves up to a future in a private cloud.
6. Reduced Server Downtime
When a physical server dies, the amount of time it takes to
replace that server and restore access to business data depends entirely on how well prepared the company was for the outage. Features in server virtualization such as fault tolerance and failover help them maintain uptime automatically and smoothly.
7. Faster and Easier Backups
Full images of virtual servers can be taken throughout the business day. This means that in the event of a data center outage, the organization can quickly and easily restore the server using very recent data.
8. Low-Risk Testing
The risks of running test environments on physical servers may simply be too high for many small and midsize businesses. The same risks do not exist with virtual servers. Virtual servers can be created for the purpose of testing on a platform independent of your mission critical systems. In the event that something goes severely wrong with a test, the organization can simply restore the server to a recent snapshot, helping them quickly revisit the test with little or no lasting damage.
9. The Ability to Isolate Applications
By putting different applications on separate servers, organizations can remove the single point of failure that is inherent in all-in-one physical server environments. Isolating these applications also removes the need for them to compete with one another for server resources.
10. Fast and Easy Deployment
When it comes to adding new server resources, businesses need to ensure they can meet their goals without interfering with existing operations. Working with a virtual private server provider, you get access to an experienced team of engineers that can complete a full server rollout in hours, not weeks.
To learn more about server virtualization, or to start planning your new server environment,
contact us today.
