Cut Costs by Focusing on your Servers, Part 1

One of the toughest parts about the job of an office administrator is budgeting. This is due to the fact that finding extra money in the budget often requires cuts, and nobody appreciates being asked to do their job with fewer resources. A good administrator will consider all angles before making a cut; this includes looking for savings inside their server.

Looking to the server for savings goes against conventional budget making protocol; this is because the server is already paid for. The savings lie in the fact that servers are powerful machines and are often underutilized; this means that if the performance of your servers can be maximized, then you will pay less money for the same results. And the best news of all: the savings from utilizing your server's potential will perhaps negate budget cuts!

Saving Money with Server Virtualization

If your business is large enough to have a server room, then you likely own multiple servers. It is a good idea to review the purpose of each server, the results may surprise you. You may find an entire server dedicated to one application, or maybe multiple operating systems are being used around the office and each OS has its own dedicated server. If this is the case, then you can condense all of these functions into one server through a solution called virtualization.

The typical server running a few applications is only utilizing 5-15% of its capacity. This means you can consolidate the functions of these underutilized servers into one machine, eliminating the need for as many as 8 to 10 servers! Factor in the total costs that comes with servers, and virtualization can save your company 35-50% in owner cost reductions.

One of the ways an underutilized server can be a drain to your budget is by draining power. If 2 to 5 servers are consolidated into one machine, then you no longer have to pay for the cost of keeping all of these machines powered on. Virtualization makes even more sense with energy savings if you consider that servers are typically powered on 24/7, despite only being used a few hours throughout the workday. Have you also noticed how warm the server room can get? Servers eat up lots of energy to stay cool; total energy savings for virtualization can add up to 80% for mid to large-sized companies! Administrators working a budget will notice that electrical bills is an operational expense, these savings can go toward the operating expense of a virtualization service.

It turns out your servers are not only full of computer chips, hard drives, and hot air, but also money for your budget! Be sure to bring up virtualization at your next budget meeting and be prepared to be named hero of the quarter. Computerware will walk you through the virtualization process, call us at (703) 821-8200 and we will be happy to share with you more on how savings from virtualization can add up for your budget.