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VMWare was the easiest pick of all. It didn't require analysis as I was in the process of converting my entire agency to a virtual infrastructure.
The simplest explanation is that Virtual technology allows me to save on hardware costs, lifecycle maintenance and warranties, and power. That is a considerable pot of money when aggregated.
There are 3 main players in the virtual machine space; Microsoft, Citrix, and VMWare. Microsoft has yet to release "Viridian" it's server/workstation product - it's doing what it always does, attempt to bully the market by promising a solution that isn't here yet, hoping to freeze IT departments into waiting. Citrix just purchased XenSource an open source competitor to VMWare, it'll take them some time to assimiliate the product line - as the purchase was only a couple of weeks ago. VMWare is the clearcut market leader, it was purchased some years ago by the EMC corporation, and enjoys a two year lead on all its rivals.
My computer room has about 150 physical servers - each requires rack space, power, warranty, and replacement (on a 4 year lifecycle). After the VMWare conversion is complete, those 150 servers will become 8. The savings due to that reduction of physical boxes is enormous and will impact any companies bottom line.
Like all shops, folks buy servers for discrete uses. Mail, web, applications, etc. Many of these purchases really don't have that many users, so all the processing power of the computer is largely wasted - the server loafs along with 5 or 6 users, using no more than 8%-10% of the processor and memory.
VMWare allows me to aggregate those servers onto a single hardware chassis, now 8 or 9 servers that are underutilized can share processors and disk storage. Through tools I can shrink or expand the resources available to each server, and I can move them from one host to another without the users even being aware of the change.
I can also fire multiple images of servers to expand capacity, and can leave others dormant in case the primary server dies a horrible death - simply activate them as needed.
In short, I save a ton of money on infrastructure costs and maintenance, and increase the availability and fault tolerance of the systems I am responsible for, for us IT geeks - it is truly a win-win scenario.
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