Achieving Virtualization for your Business in 2022

Author’s note: This is part 1 of a 4-part blog series about virtualization strategies in 2022.

Virtualization can enable IT agility, flexibility and scalability while significantly reducing operating costs for your business.

So how does it work? Virtualization basically simulates hardware functionality to create a virtual compute system, known as virtual machines (VM). Combined with a hypervisor, VMs enable IT organizations to run more than one virtual system – and multiple operating systems and applications – on a single server. The resulting benefits include economies of scale and greater efficiency.

Virtualization has been around for a while, but it’s become increasingly popular in recent years as more businesses move more of their operations online. There are four main types of virtualization: network, storage, desktop, and application, which we will dive into later in this post.

If you’re not already using virtualization in your business, here’s why now is the time to get started.

Here are four reasons why virtualization is especially important in 2022:

1. Remote work is on the rise

We all know remote work has become increasingly common in the past couple of years; and this trend will likely continue. If your employees are working remotely, virtualization can help them stay connected and productive.

2. The cloud is more popular than ever

Cloud computing is more popular than ever now. Virtualization can help you take advantage of the cloud by making it easier to move your data and applications to the cloud.

3. Reduce downtime and create resiliency in disaster recovery settings

When a disaster strikes a physical server, it could take hours or even days to fix. With a virtualized environment, it’s much easier to provision and deploy, allowing you to “clone” the affected machine. This recovery would only take minutes versus the hours it can take to provision and set up a new physical server.

4. Virtualization is becoming more affordable

The virtualization of business is no longer a pipe dream – it’s a reality that is quickly gaining traction. By virtualizing your business, you can improve efficiency and flexibility while reducing costs. In 2022 and 2023, there will be even more options for businesses of all sizes to use virtualization.

One of the ways it reduces costs is by removing fees associated with physical hardware. Virtualization cost savings also come from its ability to reduce data center operating costs related to storage, power, heating and cooling that are required to keep hardware running optimally.

A key reason for virtualizing IT infrastructure is to avoid downtime. If one resource or application fails, there`s a backup of IT assets ready to act as failover support. Downtime causes businesses to lose hours of operation and pay additional fees for IT support required to bring them back up to speed.

Here are four areas of virtualization you should consider for your business:

1. Network virtualization: For IT admins, network virtualization can lighten the load associated with network management because many tasks — such as configuration and device discovery — are automated. A virtualized network can provide your business with the agility and flexibility it needs to stay competitive.

2. Storage virtualization: Virtualizing your storage can help you improve performance and reduce costs. Admins can manage pooled storage from a central console. By consolidating your storage into a virtual environment, you can eliminate the need for physical storage devices and save on space and energy costs.

3. Desktop virtualization: With desktop virtualization, the intention is to isolate a desktop OS from the endpoint that employees use to access it. By virtualizing your desktop, you can access your applications and data from any device, anywhere.

4. Application virtualization: By virtualizing your applications, you can run multiple applications on a single server, eliminating the need for multiple servers. Application virtualization makes it possible for IT admins to install, patch and update only one version of an app instead of performing the same management tasks multiple times.

Virtualization is a major key to success in today’s competitive business landscape. As we’ve discussed in this post, virtualizing your business can improve efficiency, flexibility and reduce costs.

However, not all businesses have the internal resources necessary to move to a virtualized environment. Our team of virtualization architects can help you get there; from design and deployment to assessment and implementation, we’ve helped customers like you reap the rewards of application and desktop virtualization.

Stay tuned for our next blog post about preventing security risks in a virtualized environment.