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Equipment Utilisation

The buzz of the moment in the world of IT is virtualisation. However, this buzz should not be ignored as a gimmick or a cost, it really will help you save money and enable you to embrace a more effective disaster recovery policy.

The argument is that you have a server and most of the time it just ticks over in a corner doing its thing and all the computing power within it hardly gets used, in fact the industry states that on average a server is 10% utilised.

Where virtualisation comes in is when you need to add a second or third server for email, database applications or remote access. Instead of buying more hardware, you can use your existing hardware to run more than one "virtual" server and gain a more efficient use of its computing power.

Once a virtual infrastructure is in place not only is it easy to backup and transfer whole servers (because virtual servers are hardware independent), it is also easy to make those servers active at another site in the event of a disaster.

If you think, your business needs additional servers, or if you already have a number of older servers then virtualisation is for you. You aim to save on electric, cooling and space by reducing the amount of physical servers you have and open up the world of a more effective disaster recovery plan.

Bowker IT Ltd, Whitegate, White Lund Ind. Est., Morecambe, Lancs. LA3 3BS