Going virtual: the next great data solution can increase efficiency and save energy, but it's still evolving.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: [Q1] TECH REPORT

IBM came up with the concept of virtualization in the 1960s, but it's only truly sprouted wings in real-world data centers of the 21st century.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Today, these virtual machines--essentially hardware simulated by software running on another piece of hardware--have evolved since their incubation at Big Blue, blurring once-clear technological lines.

The big player in today's virtualization software market, VMware (NYSE: VMW), offers hardware-agnostic enterprise software that runs directly on a server without requiring an underlying operating system. Storage can be virtualized, as can networks and video adapters, and you can run a number of different virtual machines on just one server--in the end significantly boosting the efficiency of the most expensive hardware in your data center.

Virtualization fit the bill for many clients of Golden-based INITECH, a technology consulting and integration company named for the company in the movie "Office Space."

"We try to present solutions that are budget-neutral or budget negative at the end of the day," says Jonathan Senger, founder and chief executive officer.

The most obvious benefits of virtualization are business continuity and disaster recovery, Senger says. Other benefits include more access to economies of scale and less physical space required for servers in the data center. In many cases, five dedicated servers can be consolidated onto one machine, making for lower power consumption. "If you're removing a lot of processing power, you're going to see a reduction in electricity usage," Senger says.

But there are many other factors to consider before embracing virtualization. "You really need to punch the numbers on whether virtualization makes sense or not," Senger says. "You really need to do your due diligence. It's a good fit if you're doing a technology refresh. If you go into it blindly, you can end up spending more money."

Considerations range from heating, ventilation and air conditioning to human resources, but Senger's key question is "What kind of apps are you running?"

"We're very wary about pushing virtualization 100 percent," he says. "We like to start with one thing, but you can dive in headfirst if you have the resources. We're a little bit sensitive to the paradigm shift that it represents to our clients. Get the user base accustomed to it; let them know it works."

Because virtualized IT can be managed remotely, there is less human activity in the data center...