Are you ready for virtualization?

Servers This newsletter is sponsored by Arsenal Digital Solutions Traditional Backup vs. On-Demand Data Protection Services: Critical Questions for IT Decision-Makers When deciding on a data protection solution, budget limits, service quality, and compliance requirements all weigh on the minds of IT leaders. A single overlooked issue can mean the difference between disaster and continuous operations. In this Webcast, Doug Chandler of IDC will explain how many companies have evaluated their data protection choices in today's market and made a successful transition from in-house backup and recovery operations to service-based solutions. Click here to listen to this webcast today! Network World's Servers Newsletter, 07/10/07 Are you ready for virtualization? By Jennifer Mears Late last month, AMD said that, yes, it would indeed start shipping its long-awaited quad-core Barcelona Opteron processors in August. Times definitely are good for server buyers, with Intel saying that it, too, would be shipping new products in August. Media reports quote Intel as saying it will have a faster, more energy efficient quad-core Xeon processor ready next month, as well. Intel already has shipped more than a million quad-core Xeons since introducing them last November. I’ve talked before about how this is the year when x86 server virtualization is really going to take off. Now that industry standard systems are becoming more and more powerful, virtualization is making even more sense. But how do you really know when your organization is ready to adopt virtualization for those x86 systems that used to be a single-box-per-single application scenario? My former colleague Denise Dubie put together a good story last week outlining 10 questions that analyst firm Enterprise Management Associates says companies should ask before rolling out virtualization projects. Read Denise’s full story here. Manage Insider Security Threats Experts say 75% of security threats come from inside your organization. Watch the latest Network World Editorial Perspectives Webcast today, "Security From the Inside," and learn which technologies and processes best protect your intellectual property and assets inside the perimeter. Click Here to View The bottom line is that your organization needs the right skills, the right security capabilities, appropriate management tools and solid business reasons in order for virtualization efforts to be successful. For example, virtualization can introduce more security issues – things like hypervisor infections and malicious virtual machines – than you might imagine; capacity planning is a must, since virtual machines can quickly turn into virtual sprawl; and network bandwidth has to be considered, since virtualization can result in more network traffic than you’re ready to handle. Check out Denise’s story and let me know if these questions are ones you’ve already considered, or if they bring up areas you really haven’t thought about yet.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Jennifer Mears is a freelance journalist based in Arizona. She was previously senior editor at Network World focusing on server issues. E-mail her at jlmears@gmail.com.   This newsletter is sponsored by Arsenal Digital Solutions Traditional Backup vs. On-Demand Data Protection Services: Critical Questions for IT Decision-Makers When deciding on a data protection solution, budget limits, service quality, and compliance requirements all weigh on the minds of IT leaders. A single overlooked issue can mean the difference between disaster and continuous operations. In this Webcast, Doug Chandler of IDC will explain how many companies have evaluated their data protection choices in today's market and made a successful transition from in-house backup and recovery operations to service-based solutions. Click here to listen to this webcast today! ARCHIVE Archive of the Servers Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007