Virtualized Servers Can Lower IT Costs

"Within the next three to five years, all data centers are going to run out of either space, power, or cooling, and face some sort of resource crisis," says Mark Monroe, director of sustainable computing at Sun Microsystems.Monroe is quoted by greentechmedia reporter Rachel Barron.

As concerns escalate about data centers' rising energy consumption, the IT industry is scrambling for solutions. Virtualization is touted as one possible remedy.

"One of the primary goals of almost all forms of virtualization is making the most efficient use of available system resourcesFor example, many of the suppliers of management software for virtualized environments have the ability to move workloads to a smaller number of servers when workload and service level agreements allow it." writes Dan Kusnetsky in his blog, "The Virtual Man."

A lack of industry standards is just one obstacle facing vendors as they struggle to develop more efficient hardware and the software to manage it. But the industry had better keep looking, because "for every dollar spent on computer hardware, 50 cents is spent on energy. This amount is expected to increase by 54 percent, to 71 cents, over the next four years, according to analyst firm IDC" writes Barron.

Image courtesy of greentechmedia.