internal cloud

Learn how to make virtualization work for you and see real savings. These resources will provide both large and small enterprises with:

    * A method to accurately assess your company's fit with virtualization.
    * Pitfalls as described by your peers.
    * A 12-step best practice implementation plan.
    * An easy-to-use Virtualization Decision Excel tool.
    * Considerations for smaller enterprises.

Green is in. Enterprises are looking to IT - a major internal power consumer - to show leadership in developing green strategies.
Fortunately, many IT leaders faced with new pressure to conserve energy already have a green project underway - server and storage consolidation. Exploit this opportunity to both improve project support and raise the profile of IT.

The pre-requisite for the Virtualization Project Definition statement is completion of the Virtualization Scope Analysis worksheet. The project definition statement provides a summary of current planning in a form that can be used for discussion and approval of a longer term planning effort.

Starting with the proposition that the majority of x86 servers will eventually function within the enterprise as hosted virtual machines, use the following to consider the scope, impact, and planning implications of server virtualization. This exercise will inform long term planning for moving to and managing a dominant virtual server infrastructure.

The internal cloud - a term increasingly used by datacenter
infrastructure vendors - is only the most recent name for a converged utility infrastructure. Understanding private cloud infrastructure as a kind of birthday cake, with hardware layers and virtualization icing, is critical to evaluating emerging server, storage, network, and virtualization offerings.

The road to server virtualization and consolidation is not without its potholes. Examined are five common virtualization implementation challenges and how they can be mitigated. Very few virtualization challenges are purely technical, but rather stem from shortfalls in planning. Do not take an ad hoc approach to virtualization. Avoid the pitfalls by focusing on application provisioning and capacity planning.

This template will help build an Internal Cloud business plan for the enterprise as well as document business justifications for any additional projects that are connected to implementations, such as virtualization, shared storage and network convergence.