Virtualisation

Redcentric delivers across all the key virtualisation disciplines including virtualised desktop, server, applications and storage, and is one of the leading virtualisation suppliers in the UK. Expert in the key VMware, Citrix and Microsoft Hyper-V Virtualisation technologies, Redcentric is a Gold-accredited Citrix Virtualisation Supplier in the UK.

You might think virtualisation is only for global IT infrastructures, but virtualisation actually addresses some of the most fundamental frustrations and inefficiencies found in organisations of all sizes:

• Low server utilisation levels
• Lack of space to expand infrastructure
• Lack of budget to purchase new hardware as needed
• No or overly complex backup/restore capabilities
• Out of control power and cooling expenses
• Inefficient processes to build and deploy desktop devices and servers 

In a recent CIO survey, virtualisation was named as a key infrastructure priority for CIOs to cut costs and avoid wasting power over the next 12 months.

What is virtualisation and what can it do for me?

Virtualisation is the consolidation of hardware devices in a logical environment. For example, one virtual network device could take an image of a physical network rack and make a digital version of it, keeping all the devices separate in its memory.

But what's the point in having a virtual version instead of an actual one?
A lot of companies turn to virtualisation when they want to boost the capacity of their IT infrastructures - but in a cost and space efficient way.

Key benefits of effective virtualisation and deploying IT services over a virtual environment:

• Device Consolidation: Operating multiple applications on common hardware, leads to the reduction the number of servers required to support applications
• Reduced Operating Costs: Reduction in server power and hosting space costs
• Rapid Deployment: New applications can be rapidly deployed without the need for new infrastructure
• Automated Disaster Recovery: Virtual Machines can automatically failover to other physical servers
• Lower infrastructure running costs by reducing and consolidating the number of servers and amount of storage hardware required to run applications
• Introduce always available, on demand applications and desktops to information workers from any location on any device and over any connection
• Implement simple, cost effective and reliable business continuity and disaster recovery solutions
• Simplify IT management and administration
• Implement green IT policies that dramatically reduce the amount of power, space and cooling required to run IT systems.

Why should I look at virtualisation?

Rapid growth in both x86 servers and the underlying infrastructure (networking, storage etc) has in most cases created an infrastructure that is difficult to both measure and monitor. As a result many IT departments lack the information required to assess the suitability of their environment to a virtual infrastructure.

Based on cross-section of organisation environments:

• 5-10% processor utilisation
• Peak hour utilisation 3x average
• System capacity far greater than usage requirements
• 20-50% more physical servers found
• 40% servers >3 years old
• 28% servers < 700mhz

Virtualisation assessment

You should perform a formal assessment of your existing and planned resources and virtualisation needs before acquiring a virtualisation solution. Capacity planning determines how virtual machines will be distributed across physical computers for best performance and ease of management.

Your assessment should address the following questions:

• How many servers do you have?
• Which roles do they serve: application, database, web, and so on?
• How many servers do you need?
• How many users do you serve?
• Are you experiencing any issues with your current servers?
• Do you want to streamline any processes?
• Which server utilisation trends do you observe?
• What percentage of your resources are underutilised and for how long, on average?
• Which usage patterns would you prefer to see?
• How much of your existing infrastructure can you virtualise?

What if my environment is not suitable for a virtual infrastructure?

While the vast majority of x86 environments can benefit from Virtualisation, there are certain servers and workloads that are not suitable. Should this be the case, Redcentric will work with you to identify an alternative solution.

Shared virtual hosting service

Redcentric's shared virtual hosting service offers the same features as the dedicated virtual hosting service. The key difference is that client virtual machines are deployed on Redcentric owned/deployed infrastructure, allowing the customer to take advantage of the key benefits of a of a virtual environment without the initial infrastructure costs.

Streamline your business and reduce running costs by consolidating your computing hardware. Virtualisation allows you to uncouple applications, desktops, servers and data from being dependent on any one physical device, maximising productivity, hardware utilisation rates and business continuity plans.

Experience & expertise

We’re geared up to design, implement and support a wide range of vendor products in the virtualisation space. We can give you impartial advice to ensure that our solutions are perfectly tailored to your requirements and your budget.

The key components parts of a virtualisation solution are:

Application virtualisation

This centralises the installation of user applications, so that they can be more easily deployed and maintained to large groups of users spread across many locations. Enables Branch Office Connectivity and Remote and Mobile working solutions.

Desktop virtualisation

Also known as ‘thin client computing’ or VDI, this solution removes local desktop operating systems and centralises the delivery of them (as with applications only) for an entire user desktop – for example, Windows 7. A PC is not necessary on the user desktop to run a full Windows OS. Enables branch office connectivity and workforce mobility solutions.

Server virtualisation

This allows multiple virtual servers to run on any one physical server simultaneously. It enables drastic physical server reduction and consolidation, high availability, disaster recovery and green IT solutions.

Storage virtualisation

This enables the provision of virtual pools of data to servers and desktops, effectively eliminating wasted physical storage space. As the total amount of used physical storage goes up, more disk can be added easily without the need to move data or resize data volumes.