In the April 2006 edition of Inside ISS, we discussed the advantages of virtualization software in maximizing IT resources (link). In this issue, we are announcing that ISS Solutions has partnered with VMware to address this emerging data center best practice.

Through our partnership with VMware, ISS Solutions will provide clients with such services as needs analysis, project management, implementation services, and product licensing. More than 4 million users and 20,000 corporate customers of all types and sizes use VMware software, including 99 of the Fortune 100 companies.

By deploying VMware software to meet complex business challenges, such as resource utilization and availability, customers have realized significant benefits. These include lower total cost of ownership, higher return on investment, and improved service levels to their customers.  "VMware Infrastructure 3 transforms the role of hardware and software so that the business can truly think in terms of deploying services on a pool of continuously available hardware resources," said Diane Greene, president of VMware. "Instead of server boxes specifically configured for a given operating system and application, there is now a set of applications mapped to a large pool of resources and the constraint of thinking about individual hardware components becomes an old-fashioned concept. We'll look back on it as the difficult way we used to do things.”

It is because of your comments that we have sought this partnership, as many of you have expressed an interest in server virtualization.  In April 2006, International Network Services (INS) released a survey that showed that 86% of the 100 IT professionals respondents are involved in exploring, testing, or using virtualization technology (http://www.ins.com/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=1372).  Respondents indicated that they were interested in implementing virtualization to improve disaster recovery, to lower administrative costs, to save money on hardware and software, increase the floor space in the data center, and increase measurability. These comments mirror yours; and, as ISS Solutions clients, we want to provide you with high quality, reliable virtualization services.

According to the survey, 29% of organizations are using virtualization in production and development environments. Another 13% are in the process of virtualizing their production environments, and 11% are virtualizing their development servers. Only 14% say they have no plans to deploy virtualization. While virtualization is a relatively new technology, 80% of the respondents have talked to a vendor about it. Respondents said VMware is the best at getting its message out, followed by Microsoft.

Ed Butler, ISS Solutions Director of IT Services says, “Our partnership with VMware makes virtualization services from the leader in the industry available to ISS Solutions clients.” For more information, you can contact Ed at 215-752-2221 ext. 166 or EJButler@ISSsolutions.com.

VMware recently introduced VMware Infrastructure 3, the first suite to deliver comprehensive virtualization, management, resource optimization, application availability, and operational automation capabilities in an integrated offering.