“The Art of ROI” w/ Alex Capehart of (mt)
“ We can put more on a large physical server while still giving our customers plenty of room for what they need to do. ” - Alex Capehart
Excerpt from “The Art of ROI” By Karen D. Schwartz - BizTech Magazine 08/25/2009:
The Reality of Virtualization
One of the biggest trends for smaller companies these days is virtualization — creating a virtual, rather than physical, version of servers, operating systems, storage devices or network resources. The savings can be staggering: Squeezing the workloads of 30 or 40 servers into a handful of machines, for example, can cut power consumption by more than 70 percent, not to mention reducing outlay and maintenance for physical devices.
For Media Temple, a Los Angeles-based web hosting and software application services company with about 130 employees, virtualization was the only way to grow the business and provide the server power users wanted while maximizing profits. In 2001, company executives decided to move away from a traditional hosting environment, opting instead for Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, a Linux-based solution that delivers up to 1,000 virtual servers per physical server by creating isolated “containers” on a single physical server and operating system.
The company now deploys 15 or more virtual environments with Parallels Virtuozzo Containers per physical HP Proliant server, along with customized controls. “The return on investment with our virtualized environment is really incredible,” says Alex Capehart, the company’s vice president for business development. “Our CFO has said that the ROI is so good that we are reluctant to share the details publicly.”
Capehart did say that the ROI is well under one year. Measured on reliability, he says virtualization can’t be beat. And because the footprint for the solution is relatively small, “we can put more on a large physical server while still giving our customers plenty of room for what they need to do.”
