Virtualization is expected to be the highest-impact technology in information technology in the near future, transforming everything from IT management to purchasing to deployments. The benefits are clear: optimization of hardware resources, cost-effectiveness, and--especially relevant in higher education, where "green" is often a consideration--a potential reduction in the carbon footprint of college and university infrastructures as the demand for server power diminishes. Whether the goal is to economize data centers or simply to expand the range of applications available to end users, virtualization will be a key component in any higher education IT strategy over the coming few years.

Achieving Virtualization for Fun and Profit

The way Andrew Lee tells it, it was "stupid simple": Students and staff at Keiser University, where Lee is associate vice chancellor of Management Information Systems, went away for the weekend, and when they came back, everything they did on the computer was faster. Where it used to take 20 minutes for teachers to pull information like attendance and final grade postings, now it took about four minutes. The entire "back end" of the central computer system had been changed without the end users knowing it.

Keiser had gone virtual.

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What to Ask before You Virtualize

By this time, a majority of Information Technology administrators have at least envisioned the Promised Land of Virtualization, and some have already spent some time there and like it a lot. As CNETNews.com writer Stephen Shankland says, "Inserting a virtual layer can be liberating." But there are still factors to consider before moving to Virtual Land, and they can range from finances to security to the psychology of the end-users.

A White Paper from CiRBA (Configuration item Request Broker Architecture) called "How to Choose the Right Virtualization Technology for your Environment" describes the benefits of virtualization:

"By providing fractional ownership of a system's resources (along with security and operational isolation), multiple applications can coexist on a common hardware platform with relatively little risk. This enables leveraging of economies of scale in the data center, and brings huge benefits in cost savings."

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Links


Joe Salwach

Joe Salwach, DePaul University

"The big savings is in the way you manage these servers."

Judson Knott

Judson Knott, University of North Carolina

"We were looking for solutions to get rid of the junk as quickly as we could."

CDW-G Virtualization Podcast: Coming Soon.

Resources for Virtualization

What does the push toward virtualization mean for higher education IT departments? For many, it means cost savings, a reduction in energy consumption, and some new challenges as well. These resources are designed to provide you with fresh insights into the adoption of virtualization by taking a look at how campuses are adapting to the changes and what benefits virtualization has brought to their operations.