Virtualization

The Benefits of Virtualization

Depending on your IT architecture, the nature of your work, and your IT budget, virtualization software can offer a variety of advantages to your nonprofit or library.

• Consolidate Servers
• Conserve Energy
• Improve Ease of Management
• Reduce Backup and Recovery Time
• Test Software Configurations
• Maintain Legacy Applications
• Support a Cross-Platform Office

Despite its many benefits, keep in mind that virtualization software is not for everyone. There is a learning curve in both conceptualizing how virtual machines will function in your network and organization, as well as managing them reliably and cost-effectively. If your staff has trouble with physical computers, you may need to consider making sure which machine is the guest and which is the host extremely transparent to your users, or explaining to them in simple terms how this will affect their day-to-day work, if at all.