School Board Virtualizes Servers, Boosts IT Productivity, and Saves $30,000 in First Year

Based in Brick, New Jersey, the Brick Township Board of Education administers a school district for students from kindergarten through grade 12. To maximize computing services for 2,000 employees while minimizing costs, the IT department turned to server virtualization, but its VMware solution couldn't virtualize the district's many transactional systems that use Microsoft SQL Server. Instead of upgrading its VMware solution, the board saved approximately U.S.$25,000 by migrating to Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V technology. Now it can virtualize its transactional systems and eliminate more than 90 percent of its physical servers. The IT staff also deployed Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 to optimize the performance of both physical and virtual servers, boosting IT staff productivity and saving days on server provisioning and routine administrative tasks.