Virtualization Enters the Mainstream

Soaring energy prices have hit business where it hurts: in the bottom line. Because power is often the single largest data center operating expense, executives are searching for ways to increase the cost-effectiveness of IT infrastructures, often by upgrading to equipment designed for high energy efficiency. Still, unless performance per watt increases or energy prices decline, data center power and cooling costs are likely to overtake hardware costs in many organizations. At the same time that executives are under pressure to cap data center power consumption, they are facing exponential growth in demand for processing power and data storage capacity.