Flash Research paper 2- Virtualization and Cloud Computing
Carolyn Young
Professor Doyle
MIS 2501
22 September 2014
Flash Research Assignment 2
By consolidating server workloads by using virtualization we could save the company over $6 million over three years. The amount of servers would be reduced from 1000 to 200 and we would only need 80 Virtual Machines (VM) servers. We can reduce the amount of servers because 10 physical servers can run on a single virtual machine. With a hardware refresh cycle coming up next period, the company would benefit immensely from the implementation of VM’s.
Most servers can only run one application on them, regardless of application size, causing a lot of wasted space. A typical server utilizes a very small percentage of its capacity, usually less than 20%. A VM can run many servers and applications on the same machine, consolidating the amount of servers. This allows the company to cut back on wasted space because by using a VMIt also allows applications and servers to run more efficiency due to more computing power from the VM.
By replacing physical servers with VM’s the cost and maintenance would be a lot cheaper. Maintenance is $2,000 a year per server and $3,000 per VM. Implementing VM’s would result in an annual savings of $1.3 million. In addition servers cost $8,000 and VM’s cost $16,000. Even though VM’s are more expensive, by cutting back on the amount of servers purchased by 80%, the company would save over $5.1 million on the equipment by using VM’s. Over 3 years, that adds up to the total cost savings total over $6.3 million. (Figures 1, 2)
Works Cited
Dawson, Philip, and Nathan Hill. “Hype Cycle for Virtualization, 2012.”
Gartner. N.p., 24 July 2012. Web.
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Jonathan Strickland. “HowStuffWorks “Why Use Server Virtualization”” HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2014.
Beal, Vangie. “Server Virtualization.” What Is Server Virtualization? Webopedia. Webopedia, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.