The benefits of virtualization are not difficult to imagine. Common wisdom has it that only a small percentage of the potential computing resources of any system are being utilized at any one time. That means the rest is not being used.
But virtualization can change all that. In a virtualized environment, resources or requests for services are separate from their underlying physical delivery. Virtualization puts a layer of abstraction between applications and the computing, storage, and networking hardware upon which those applications run.
Because resources are pooled and used as a unit, existing assets are used more efficiently and IT no longer needs to keep buying processors and memory in order to meet business objectives.
Most importantly, vendors are now delivering more mature virtualization tools that not only operate across a variety of platforms and devices but also provide extensive management and availability features and functionality.
Admittedly, it will take some time for CIOs to adapt to doing more with the same. After all, it’s a far cry from the past few years of being tasked with investing only in tools aimed at meeting urgent, proximate, and pressing problems.
Implemented independently, automation and virtualization can serve as a good place to start to for organizations looking to stay in line with stabilized budgets. Implemented together, these technologies can enable organizations to reduce capital expenditures, avoid unnecessary IT costs, relieve the burden on IT, and optimize their investments with a proactive approach toward the future.
David Thompson is CIO of IT security vendor Symantec. Prior to joining Symantec, Thompson was senior vice president and CIO for Oracle and oversaw the Global Information Technology group.