  Virtualisation: Real Magic or Smoke and Mirrors? Everyone and his brother seems to be talking about it and every IT manufacturer appears to be leveraging some kind of virtualisation strategy. What’s more, they all seem to be urging us to do the same. Ironic then, that so much mystique and misinformation should still surround the term. Ironic, but hardly surprising. The problem with the word virtual is that it’s, well, virtual – it’s intangible, not quite real. So businesses can hardly be blamed for seeing the idea as rather fluffy and nebulous; great in principle, but a bit lacking in substance. So what is it exactly? Actually, it’s deceptively simple. In essence, virtualisation is about taking a group of physical IT assets – disk arrays, servers, even networks – and making them appear as if they’re a single, logical entity; or taking a single asset and making it appear multiple. And while that may not sound terribly exciting, the potential benefits are massive. Hardware and management cost savings; increased technical agility; greater control through centralised management; reduced downtime and other time savings; even greater staff efficiency and improved customer service. All the fuss then, could well be justified. Accordingly, in this, the first in a series of iQ special reports, we find out where the virtual stops and the reality starts. |
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