The virtual buzz

Cutting down the number of servers in a data centre will drastically reduce the power footprint of the surrounding infrastructure.

Although increasing numbers of Australian organisations are adopting virtualisation, Angus Jones, marketing manager of servers and storage at HP, said there is a worrying trend that many of these businesses are not actually taking the consolidated servers out of active use.

“Most customers are doing virtualisation today. The really interesting thing is there is quite a large proportion of people who are not turning off their old servers. So although they are getting the benefits of virtualisation, they’re not necessarily turning the old boxes off,” he said.

In recent times virtualistion has also moved beyond the data centre. Recent developments have seen attention directed at reducing the power used by employees while working on their desktop computers.

Though in its infancy, desktop virtualisation holds much promise according to Rob Willis, area vice president Australia and New Zealand at Citrix Systems.

“The desktop virtualisation space is fairly new and we’re seeing a lot of interest that is still building.”

The logic behind desktop virtualisation is simple. Desktop computers consume large amounts of power. Despite running for eight to 12 hours a day – and often left on overnight – these computers are commonly used for little more than checking emails and basic word processing. Similarly to a server, much of the computing potential of a desktop computer is simply never used.

The current solution to this is thin-client terminals. Thin clients are effectively stripped-down computers that relay input and output to and from a server. As they farm out all but the most basic of processing activities, these small terminals have very low power footprints, often saving 30 to 45 percent of the power used by a standard desktop computer. When multiplied across multiple desktops, the power and carbon savings offered by a thin client can be substantial.

Storage, too, is receiving attention from virtualisation vendors. As an organisation’s storage needs continue to expand year on year, so too do its power requirements.

While storage virtualisation remains a niche area, Simon Elisha, head solutions architect at Hitachi Data Systems, claims that there has been massive adoption in this space due to the complementary nature of storage and server virtualisation.

“It is a very well-understood technology. It is mature and it has been delivered extensively throughout Australia in the Australian market with Australian people. It’s an established, reliable, valuable technology.”

Other approaches such as network and application virtualisation are also playing a key role in transforming the way people approach Green computing.

Although people are frequently wary of Greenwash and buzzwords, often with good reason, virtualisation’s dual benefit of enabling dramatic reductions in power usage and lowering power costs means that companies can make a real and quantifiable contribution to reducing their carbon footprint. It is here where virtualisation’s value is hard to overstate.

Despite its potential, Angus Jones from HP is quick to caution against relying on virtualistion as a panacea.

“You need to look at the bigger picture. Virtualisation is a point solution. It is one solution amongst many that we need to be looking at,” he said.

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