Introducing Legacy Consolidation for the SMB
As SMBs consider how to spend limited IT dollars in 2009, they look for investments that provide new capabilities. Particularly in these tough economic times, it becomes very difficult for service providers to show the value of upgrades to customers.

With that in mind, what if a service provider could offer a methodology that is far less labor intensive, that moves an existing application to new hardware, and yet, preserves the investment the customer has made in previous maintenance repairs?

Legacy consolidation is that method
Where the situation warrants, rather than require a customer to migrate from one piece of physical hardware to another—where the IT consultant either rebuilds the system on new hardware with no changes to the configuration to minimize risk (thus not providing any new value), or migrates to a new version of the operating system or application, introducing risk in exchange for those new features –- service providers have another option: 

Virtualization
Service providers can virtualize a customer’s existing environment. They can use a portable, self-contained bubble and move it to new hardware. This separates the application and operating system from the old hardware, and in return, leverages new hardware with the existing application.

This legacy consolidation can also take advantage of the new hardware capabilities, providing the SMB extra capacity to run more than one application, or grow the organization with new capabilities.

This methodology not only provides a flexible infrastructure, positioning the SMB for growth in a much more predictable method, but also reduces risk and cost while providing higher value and a greater return on investment. For service providers, this is always the goal since this approach provides a new option for delivering solutions to customers.

Pervasiveness of Virtualization
Server virtualization makes absolute sense in nearly all cases.  Every business, SMBs in particular, should be utilizing some level of server virtualization right now. Simply put, there is no valid reason not to use this type of system. Even Microsoft is doing it. 

Microsoft is on track to have their entire server farm for microsoft.com virtualized. Microsoft operates a high performance set of sites, of which the reported availability actually increased. With a virtual environment, Microsoft has reduced new hardware rollouts from 12 hours to 4 hours.

The lesson learned, is that if SMB customers need a server, it should be a virtual one. 

Desktop Virtualization
Desktop virtualization is a different story. Desktop virtualization makes sense only when the application calls for it.

For service providers, client desktops need to be as managed with as little effort as possible. Therefore, virtualization on the desktop should be examined for need, as it adds complexity to the overall setup.

This is very much an application-specific consideration. Virtualization is like a hammer, and not everything is a nail. In 2009, not every desktop should be virtualized; although, there are some clear situations where it’s useful and even the ideal solution.

Legacy Consolidation
Virtualization allows existing applications to continue to serve an organization beyond its original life expectancy. Many systems are upgraded only because of aging hardware rather than business needs. When a system is properly run and well maintained, it often outlasts the lifespan of the hardware on which it runs.

Therefore, rather than force a customer to perform a lengthy and expensive upgrade process, service providers now have the option of providing the customer with an alternative solution that allows them to continue to leverage existing operating environments while still maintaining systems on modern hardware that is under appropriate maintenance. 

Comments:

Thanks for sharing information about the conference. By the way I use to participate in the conference often. Recently I have participated in the Cloudslam 2010 which is the world’s largest and 2nd virtual conference. That was a great conference through which I have gathered more information on Cloud computing and its innovations and trends. I got the details about the Speakers and conference through the conference http://cloudslam10.com.

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