Over the years computers have become more powerful and smaller, with more features, also, data transfer speed across networks have jump a hundred fold, to now have 1 Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Wireless speed have also risen to 300MBps in 802.11n which surpasses fast Ethernet at 100Mbps which is still the primary network speed in most organizations. One of the most innovative improvement in technology is the incorporation of Virtualization Technology into the computer processor from Intel as INTEL-VT and AMD as AMD-V.

You may already be heavily invested in the rapidly emerging technology of virtualization. If so, consider some of the ideas below for further exploiting the technology. If not, now is the right time to get started.

Virtualization provides a set of tools for increasing flexibility and lowering costs, things that are important in every enterprise and Information Technology organization. Virtualization solutions are becoming increasingly available and rich in features.

Since virtualization can provide significant benefits to your organization in multiple areas, you should be establishing pilots, developing expertise and putting virtualization technology to work now.

Virtualization for Innovation.

In essence, virtualization increases flexibility by decoupling an operating system and the services and applications supported by that system from a specific physical hardware platform. It allows the establishment of multiple virtual environments on a shared hardware platform. Organizations looking to innovate find that the ability to create new systems and services without installing additional hardware (and to quickly tear down those systems and services when they are no longer needed) can be a significant boost to innovation.

Among possible approaches are the rapid establishment of development systems for the creation of custom software, the ability to quickly set up test environments, the capability to provision alternate software solutions and compare them without extensive hardware investments, support for rapid prototyping and agile development environments, and the ability to quickly establish new production services on demand.

These environments can be created in house with our NetSecurer Appliances or on existing hardware with Citrix XenServer. Since the cost to create a new virtual environment can be very low, and can take advantage of existing hardware, innovation can be facilitated and accelerated with minimal investment.

Virtualization can also excel at supporting innovation through the use of virtual environments for training and learning. These services are ideal applications for virtualization technology. A student can start course work with a known, standard system environment. Class work can be isolated from the production network. Learners can establish unique software environments without demanding exclusive use of hardware resources.

As the capabilities of virtual environments continue to grow, we’re likely to see increasing use of virtualization to enable portable environments tailored to the needs of a specific user. These environments can be moved dynamically to an accessible or local processing environment, regardless of where the user is located. The user’s virtual environments can be stored on the network or carried on a portable memory device.

A related concept is the Appliance Operating System, an application package oriented operating system designed to run in a virtual environment. The package approach can yield lower development and support costs as well as insuring the application runs in a known, secure environment. An Appliance Operating System solution provides benefits to both application developers and the consumers of those applications.

How these applications of virtualization technology apply in your enterprise will vary. If you are already using the technology in more than one of the areas noted above, consider an additional investment in a solution requiring rapid development. If you haven’t started with virtualization, start with a training and learning implementation to develop skills, then move on to application development and testing. Enterprises with broader experience in virtualization should consider implementing portable virtual environments or application appliances.