Virtualisation: Don't be fooled!

An influx of providers offering so called 'Virtualisation' services is leading to market confusion for many companies, according to managed IT services provider IT Lab.

Too many believe they are getting brilliant cost saving advantages by hosting virtually, but the reality is that most providers are still using dedicated physical hardware that ends up costing the customer far more!

Dom Monkhouse, managing director, IT Lab, explains: "Virtualisation is all about letting one server do the job of multiple servers, by sharing the resources of a single physical server across multiple environments. This reduces the need to buy more hardware, and enables one physical machine to run several different operating systems.

"Unfortunately, recent announcements in the press by ISPs and hosting providers are muddying the water. They are offering hardware redundancy and high availability for free as a result of virtualisation. The reality, in most cases, is that this 'virtualisation' is based on dedicated physical hardware. This is not virtualisation!

In fact, the customer will have to pay twice for two redundant servers to get one truly redundant virtual machine. Other ISP's are offering the choice between hybrid virtual and physical hosted environments. This, again, is not virtualisation! It's supposed to free clients from hardware, not mean they have to buy more!

"Virtualisation not only lets you host multiple operating systems, virtual servers and virtual desktops, it lets you host multiple applications both locally and further afield, freeing you from physical and geographical limitations. In the current economic climate, financial savings are essential. But, it's time ISP's stopped making up services in order to appear 'cutting edge' and actually developed a service that fits the exact needs of their customers.