30 Nov 2009

Effective planning 'still needed with virtualisation'

Even after businesses have invested in upgrading IT infrastructure through server virtualisation, they must maintain effective planning processes to avoid backlogs and disruption, it has been claimed.

Herman van Heerden, managing director of Starship Systems, said there is a common misconception that businesses will be able to forgo capacity planning when using virtualisation technology, but this is certainly not the case.

He told IT News Africa: "When there's no proper and effective capacity planning, resources are either underutilised or there's a desperate rush to add capacity when something goes awry."

Mr van Heerden added businesses should look to leave adequate capacity to manage a single system failure, thereby allowing staff to continue working undisrupted.

Elsewhere, Owen Cole, technical director with F5 Networks, noted at the recent Storage Expo 2009 that companies could reduce their carbon emissions by embracing server virtualisation, as it enables large-scale consolidation resulting in lower power consumption.