Companies of all sizes are embracing virtualization as a way to cut IT expenses, enhance security, and increase operational efficiency. But while people are already aware of its benefits, many are still in the dark when it comes to the different types of virtualization. Here, we’ll show you some of the most common virtualization methods and how they can be a game-changer for your business.

Application virtualization

This is a process where applications are virtualized and delivered from a server to the end user’s device, such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets. So instead of logging into their computers at work, users will be able to gain access to the application right from their device, provided an Internet connection is available. This is particularly popular for businesses that require the use of their applications on the go.

Desktop virtualization

Similar to application virtualization mentioned above, desktop virtualization separates the desktop environment from the physical device and configured as a “virtual desktop infrastructure” (VDI). One of the biggest advantages of desktop virtualization is that users are able to access all their personal files and applications on any PC, meaning they can work from anywhere without the need to bring their work computer. It also lowers the cost of software licensing and updates. Maintenance and patch management are simple, since all of the virtual desktops are hosted at the same location.

Hardware virtualization

Perhaps the most common type of virtualization today, hardware virtualization is made possible by a virtual machine manager (VM) called the “hypervisor”. The hypervisor creates virtual versions of computers and operating systems and consolidates them into one large physical server, so that all the hardware resources can be utilized more efficiently. It also enables users to run different operating systems on the same machine simultaneously.

Network virtualization

Network virtualization combines all physical networking equipment into a single, software-based resource. It also divides available bandwidth into multiple, independent channels, each of which can be assigned to servers and devices in real time. Businesses that would benefit from network virtualization are ones that have a large number of users and need to keep their systems up and running at all times. With the distributed channels, your network speed will increase dramatically, allowing you to deliver services and applications faster than ever before.

Storage virtualization

This type of virtualization is very easy and cost-effective to implement, since it involves compiling your physical hard drives into a single cluster. Storage virtualization is handy when it comes to planning for disaster recovery, since the data stored on your virtual storage can be replicated and transferred to another location. By consolidating your storage into a centralized system, you can eliminate the hassles and costs of managing multiple storage devices.

Integrating virtualization into your business can be a complex and confusing process. Ideally you should enlist the help of experts to get the job done right. If you’re looking for top-quality and reliable virtualization solutions, why not get in touch with our professionals today? We’ll make your virtualization experience a quick and seamless one.

Virtualization has become the cornerstone for almost all businesses today — and for good reason. It is the process of creating a virtual version of a physical IT device, enabling businesses to utilize their resources more effectively, while reducing the costs that come with managing and maintaining their infrastructure. Virtualization can be done in many different ways. In this article, we’ll give you an overview of what can be virtualized, and how it can benefit your business.

Application virtualization

This is a process where applications are virtualized and delivered from a server to the end user’s device, such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets. So instead of logging into their computers at work, users will be able to gain access to the application right from their device, provided an Internet connection is available. This is particularly popular for businesses that require the use of their applications on the go.

Desktop virtualization

Similar to application virtualization mentioned above, desktop virtualization separates the desktop environment from the physical device and configured as a “virtual desktop infrastructure” (VDI). One of the biggest advantages of desktop virtualization is that users are able to access all their personal files and applications on any PC, meaning they can work from anywhere without the need to bring their work computer. It also lowers the cost of software licensing and updates. Maintenance and patch management are simple, since all of the virtual desktops are hosted at the same location.

Hardware virtualization

Perhaps the most common type of virtualization today, hardware virtualization is made possible by a virtual machine manager (VM) called the “hypervisor”. The hypervisor creates virtual versions of computers and operating systems and consolidates them into one large physical server, so that all the hardware resources can be utilized more efficiently. It also enables users to run different operating systems on the same machine simultaneously.

Network virtualization

Network virtualization combines all physical networking equipment into a single, software-based resource. It also divides available bandwidth into multiple, independent channels, each of which can be assigned to servers and devices in real time. Businesses that would benefit from network virtualization are ones that have a large number of users and need to keep their systems up and running at all times. With the distributed channels, your network speed will increase dramatically, allowing you to deliver services and applications faster than ever before.

Storage virtualization

This type of virtualization is very easy and cost-effective to implement, since it involves compiling your physical hard drives into a single cluster. Storage virtualization is handy when it comes to planning for disaster recovery, since the data stored on your virtual storage can be replicated and transferred to another location. By consolidating your storage into a centralized system, you can eliminate the hassles and costs of managing multiple storage devices.

Integrating virtualization into your business can be a complex and confusing process. Ideally you should enlist the help of experts to get the job done right. If you’re looking for top-quality and reliable virtualization solutions, why not get in touch with our professionals today? We’ll make your virtualization experience a quick and seamless one.

For many businesses, managing and maintaining their entire hardware and software infrastructure can be a daunting and prohibitively expensive task. But with virtualization, this is no longer an issue. Virtualization allows businesses to maximize the use of their IT resources at a reduced cost — this is why it has become so popular in the past few years. While there are many different types of virtualization on the market, it’s best to choose the one that fits your needs. Here, we give you an overview of five virtualization methods and how they can prove useful for your business.

Application virtualization

This is a process where applications are virtualized and delivered from a server to the end user’s device, such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets. So instead of logging into their computers at work, users will be able to gain access to the application right from their device, provided an Internet connection is available. This is particularly popular for businesses that require the use of their applications on the go.

Desktop virtualization

Similar to application virtualization mentioned above, desktop virtualization separates the desktop environment from the physical device and configured as a “virtual desktop infrastructure” (VDI). One of the biggest advantages of desktop virtualization is that users are able to access all their personal files and applications on any PC, meaning they can work from anywhere without the need to bring their work computer. It also lowers the cost of software licensing and updates. Maintenance and patch management are simple, since all of the virtual desktops are hosted at the same location.

Hardware virtualization

Perhaps the most common type of virtualization today, hardware virtualization is made possible by a virtual machine manager (VM) called the “hypervisor”. The hypervisor creates virtual versions of computers and operating systems and consolidates them into one large physical server, so that all the hardware resources can be utilized more efficiently. It also enables users to run different operating systems on the same machine simultaneously.

Network virtualization

Network virtualization combines all physical networking equipment into a single, software-based resource. It also divides available bandwidth into multiple, independent channels, each of which can be assigned to servers and devices in real time. Businesses that would benefit from network virtualization are ones that have a large number of users and need to keep their systems up and running at all times. With the distributed channels, your network speed will increase dramatically, allowing you to deliver services and applications faster than ever before.

Storage virtualization

This type of virtualization is very easy and cost-effective to implement, since it involves compiling your physical hard drives into a single cluster. Storage virtualization is handy when it comes to planning for disaster recovery, since the data stored on your virtual storage can be replicated and transferred to another location. By consolidating your storage into a centralized system, you can eliminate the hassles and costs of managing multiple storage devices.

Integrating virtualization into your business can be a complex and confusing process. Ideally you should enlist the help of experts to get the job done right. If you’re looking for top-quality and reliable virtualization solutions, why not get in touch with our professionals today? We’ll make your virtualization experience a quick and seamless one.

When Dropbox announced it was integrating its storage product with GSuite in March, it was more of a heads up that the two companies were working together. Today at Google Next, Dropbox announced, a new add-on to manage Gmail attachments in Dropbox.

Ketan Nayak, a product manager at Dropbox says this is the first concrete piece to come out of that earlier announcement. “Back in March, we announced a broader partnership with Google to bring about integrations and product initiatives across a range of different Google Cloud products. And what we wanted to share with you today was that we’re bringing one of the first [pieces] in this product partnership, the Dropbox add-on for Gmail, to GA,” he said.

The partnership makes sense for the two companies as they share lots of overlapping users with more than 50 percent of Dropbox users also using G Suite. Being able to access Dropbox without leaving Gmail or other G Suite tool could potentially save users time and effort spent copying and pasting and switching programs.

Instead, there is a direct integration now that displays the attachments in a side panel after which you can save them if you so choose directly into your Dropbox, and the experience is the same in the mobile app or on the web, Nayak explained.

Dropbox displays the attachments in the email in a side panel for easy access. Photo: Dropbox

“We created this cross-browser, cross-platform solution that doesn’t exist today, especially on mobile, where a lot of our users live and work across these different tools. It’s been really hard for users to navigate in and out of different apps, and we really think of this add-on as a first step that enables users across our two platforms to start start working more seamlessly,” Nayek explained.

Indeed, other integrations between products are already in the works including one that will allow users to insert a link to a file stored in Dropbox in an email without leaving the program. “Users can share and generate links to Dropbox content while composing an email,” he said. While that particular functionality isn’t ready yet, the company was demonstrating it on stage at Google Next today and it should be available soon.

Kayak says, these announcements are really just a starting point of what they hope will be a much more comprehensive set of integrations between the two company’s products in the future.

If you are a business and want to use Google Drive, then your only option until now was to buy a full G Suite subscription, even if you don’t want or need access to the rest of the company’s productivity tools. Starting today, though, these businesses will be able to buy a subscription to a standalone version of Google Drive, too.

Google says that a standalone version of Drive has been at the top of the list of requests from prospective customers, so it’s now giving this option to them in the form of this new service (though to be honest, I’m not sure how much demand there really is for this product). Standalone Google Drive will come with all the usual online storage and sharing features as the G Suite version.

Pricing will be based on usage. Google will charge $8 per month per active user and $0.04 per GB stored in a company’s Drive.

Google’s idea here is surely to convert those standalone Drive users to full G Suite users over time, but it’s also an acknowledgement on Google’s part that not every business is ready to move away from legacy email tools and desktop-based productivity applications like Word and Excel just yet (and that its online productivity suite may not be right for all of those businesses, too).

Drive, by the way, is going to hit a billion users this week, Google keeps saying. I guess I appreciate that they don’t want to jump the gun and are actually waiting for that to happen instead of just announcing it now when it’s convenient. Once it does, though, it’ll become the company’s eighth product with more than a billion users.

Google is giving developers a new storage option in its cloud. Cloud Filestore, which will launch into beta next month, essentially offers a fully managed network attached storage (NAS) service in the cloud. This means that companies can now easily run applications that need a traditional file system interface on the Google Cloud Platform.

Traditionally, developers who wanted access to a standard file system over the kind of object storage and database options that Google already offered had to rig up a file server with a persistent disk. Filestore does away with all of this and simply allows Google Cloud users to spin up storage as needed.

The promise of Filestore is that it offers high throughput, low latency and high IOPS. The service will come in two tiers: premium and standard. The premium tier will cost $0.30 per GB and month and promises a throughput speed of 700 MB/s and 30,000 IOPS, no matter the storage capacity. Standard-tier Filestore storage will cost $0.20 per GB and month, but performance scales with capacity and doesn’t hit peak performance until you store more than 10TB of data in Filestore.

Google launched Filestore at an event in Los Angeles that mostly focused on the entertainment and media industry. There are plenty of enterprise applications in those verticals that need a shared file system, but the same can be said for many other industries that rely on similar enterprise applications.

The Filestore beta will launch next month. Because it’s still in beta, Google isn’t making any uptime promises right now and there is no ETA for when the service will come out of beta.

San Jose-based Cohesity has closed an oversubscribed $250M Series D funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, bringing its total raised to date to $410M. The enterprise software company offers a hyperconverged data platform for storing and managing all the secondary data created outside of production apps.

In a press release today it notes this is only the second time SoftBank’s gigantic Vision Fund has invested in an enterprise software company. The fund, which is almost $100BN in size — without factoring in all the planned sequels, also led an investment in enterprise messaging company Slack back in September 2017 (also a $250M round).

“Cohesity pioneered hyperconverged secondary storage as a first stepping stone on the path to a much larger transformation of enterprise infrastructure spanning public and private clouds. We believe that Cohesity’s web-scale Google-like approach, cloud-native architecture, and incredible simplicity is changing the business of IT in a fundamental way,” said Deep Nishar, senior managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, in a supporting statement.

Also participating in the financing are Cohesity’s existing strategic investors Cisco Investments, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, along with early investor Sequoia Capital and others.

The company says the investment will be put towards “large-scale global expansion” by selling more enterprises on the claimed cost and operational savings from consolidating multiple separate point solutions onto its hyperconverged platform. On the customer acquisition front it flags up support from its strategic investors, Cisco and HPE, to help it reach more enterprises.

Cohesity says it’s onboarded more than 200 new enterprise customers in the last two quarters — including Air Bud Entertainment, AutoNation, BC Oil and Gas Commission, Bungie, Harris Teeter, Hyatt, Kelly Services, LendingClub, Piedmont Healthcare, Schneider Electric, the San Francisco Giants, TCF Bank, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force, and WestLotto — and says annual revenues grew 600% between 2016 and 2017.

In another supporting statement, CEO and founder Mohit Aron, added: “My vision has always been to provide enterprises with cloud-like simplicity for their many fragmented applications and data — backup, test and development, analytics, and more.

“Cohesity has built significant momentum and market share during the last 12 months and we are just getting started.”

Virtualization and cloud computing are two technologies that have long been confusing business owners. But that shouldn’t be the case. Understanding the differences between the cloud and virtualization is the fastest way to use these technologies to your greatest advantage.

Virtualization

Imagine a company with five servers, each assigned a single task such as storage, email, etc. If one day there were a spike in email traffic, the email server might become overwhelmed, causing it to slow down. Adding another server would remedy the issue, but it would be expensive and inefficient on days with less traffic.

With virtualization software, you can combine the resources of all five of the servers in our example. So if the email server got bogged down, it could borrow resources from any of the other servers with extra capacity. The process is not as simple as it sounds, and businesses often turn to an experienced IT service provider to set up a virtualized environment.

Because virtualization software can be installed on a server in your office, it is totally independent of cloud technology. Sometimes, people misunderstand the difference because the vast majority of cloud solutions use virtualization to improve their services.

Cloud Computing

With cloud computing, users can edit documents, save files, and interact with apps that aren’t actually on their computer. Instead, they access these items by connecting to a server via a network or internet connection. If your organization can get the information you need when you need it, you already gain a competitive edge.

To carry out its purpose, a cloud platform sometimes uses several virtualized servers to provide users with a simple system that appears to be all their own, even though it’s actually shared with several other users and servers. There’s no need to purchase additional servers, and you can also save valuable office space by not having to deploy bulky equipment in-house.

Obviously, scalability is critical in today’s ever-changing business conditions. What cloud computing does is make it easier to manage business tasks to maximize productivity. What’s more, it helps streamline operations as more cloud services are integrated. Businesses don’t have to worry about infrastructure maintenance because it is covered by the cloud service provider.

Virtualization and cloud computing are both economical technologies that small businesses should take advantage of. If you want to see what they can do for you, give our team of experts a call today!

Cloud computing and virtualization are similar but not interchangeable. Both have their own benefits, so it’s worth learning how each technology works. With this knowledge, you can make the most out of your technology investment.

Virtualization

Imagine a company with five servers, each assigned a single task such as storage, email, etc. If one day there were a spike in email traffic, the email server might become overwhelmed, causing it to slow down. Adding another server would remedy the issue, but it would be expensive and inefficient on days with less traffic.

With virtualization software, you can combine the resources of all five of the servers in our example. So if the email server got bogged down, it could borrow resources from any of the other servers with extra capacity. The process is not as simple as it sounds, and businesses often turn to an experienced IT service provider to set up a virtualized environment.

Because virtualization software can be installed on a server in your office, it is totally independent of cloud technology. Sometimes, people misunderstand the difference because the vast majority of cloud solutions use virtualization to improve their services.

Cloud Computing

With cloud computing, users can edit documents, save files, and interact with apps that aren’t actually on their computer. Instead, they access these items by connecting to a server via a network or internet connection. If your organization can get the information you need when you need it, you already gain a competitive edge.

To carry out its purpose, a cloud platform sometimes uses several virtualized servers to provide users with a simple system that appears to be all their own, even though it’s actually shared with several other users and servers. There’s no need to purchase additional servers, and you can also save valuable office space by not having to deploy bulky equipment in-house.

Obviously, scalability is critical in today’s ever-changing business conditions. What cloud computing does is make it easier to manage business tasks to maximize productivity. What’s more, it helps streamline operations as more cloud services are integrated. Businesses don’t have to worry about infrastructure maintenance because it is covered by the cloud service provider.

Virtualization and cloud computing are both economical technologies that small businesses should take advantage of. If you want to see what they can do for you, give our team of experts a call today!

Virtualization and cloud computing are sometimes used interchangeably, and it’s easy to see why people confuse the two. To set the record straight, virtualization is NOT cloud computing. But these two revolutionary technologies often overlap.

Virtualization

Imagine a company with five servers, each assigned a single task such as storage, email, etc. If one day there were a spike in email traffic, the email server might become overwhelmed, causing it to slow down. Adding another server would remedy the issue, but it would be expensive and inefficient on days with less traffic.

With virtualization software, you can combine the resources of all five of the servers in our example. So if the email server got bogged down, it could borrow resources from any of the other servers with extra capacity. The process is not as simple as it sounds, and businesses often turn to an experienced IT service provider to set up a virtualized environment.

Because virtualization software can be installed on a server in your office, it is totally independent of cloud technology. Sometimes, people misunderstand the difference because the vast majority of cloud solutions use virtualization to improve their services.

Cloud Computing

With cloud computing, users can edit documents, save files, and interact with apps that aren’t actually on their computer. Instead, they access these items by connecting to a server via a network or internet connection. If your organization can get the information you need when you need it, you already gain a competitive edge.

To carry out its purpose, a cloud platform sometimes uses several virtualized servers to provide users with a simple system that appears to be all their own, even though it’s actually shared with several other users and servers. There’s no need to purchase additional servers, and you can also save valuable office space by not having to deploy bulky equipment in-house.

Obviously, scalability is critical in today’s ever-changing business conditions. What cloud computing does is make it easier to manage business tasks to maximize productivity. What’s more, it helps streamline operations as more cloud services are integrated. Businesses don’t have to worry about infrastructure maintenance because it is covered by the cloud service provider.

Virtualization and cloud computing are both economical technologies that small businesses should take advantage of. If you want to see what they can do for you, give our team of experts a call today!

As more medical practices adopt electronic health records (EHR), running out of digital storage is becoming an increasingly common issue. HIPAA-regulated practices don’t always have the option of cloud solutions, but virtualization is a secure and cost-effective alternative.

What is virtualization?

There are countless ways for healthcare practices to improve their operations with virtualization, but each type of virtualization uses software to define hardware parameters that are more in line with a practice’s needs.

For example, if you had a web portal for patients to view their appointment details or visit summaries, you’d need a desktop computer or server to run an application that kept the service running 24/7. But with a limited budget, you might also want that workstation to be available for other tasks and applications. As long as the portal service and miscellaneous programs are installed on the same computer, they’ll be competing for resources and slowing each other down.

With virtualization, you could use software to create two virtual, totally independent computers. Half of your workstation’s hardware would be dedicated to your web portal service, and the other half would be set aside for other tasks and applications. You define how much power each half gets so a performance issue with one half never drags down the other.

Storage virtualization in healthcare

One of the biggest pain points for healthcare providers is how to keep up with storage demands for EHRs. IT solutions need to be both secure and flexible enough to meet the evolving needs of patients and industry regulations.

Storage virtualization allows healthcare companies to design solutions based on their needs rather than the hardware they have on hand. For instance, if you have a server for EHRs that is running out of space, you could use software to pool leftover space from other servers and workstations to create one huge virtual drive.

With more efficient resource distribution, you can keep sensitive documents stored on site without investing in expensive hardware upgrades.

How to set up a virtualization solution

Setting up any sort of virtualization system is a complex process that requires an intimate understanding of computer hardware and software. To learn more about what sort of cost reductions our services can give you, give us a call today.

Compared to organizations in other industries, healthcare practitioners are having difficulty adopting new technology. Providers are understandably hesitant about storing electronic health records (EHRs) in the cloud, but there is another option. Virtualization increases IT stability and efficiency and keeps your most sensitive information on site.

What is virtualization?

There are countless ways for healthcare practices to improve their operations with virtualization, but each type of virtualization uses software to define hardware parameters that are more in line with a practice’s needs.

For example, if you had a web portal for patients to view their appointment details or visit summaries, you’d need a desktop computer or server to run an application that kept the service running 24/7. But with a limited budget, you might also want that workstation to be available for other tasks and applications. As long as the portal service and miscellaneous programs are installed on the same computer, they’ll be competing for resources and slowing each other down.

With virtualization, you could use software to create two virtual, totally independent computers. Half of your workstation’s hardware would be dedicated to your web portal service, and the other half would be set aside for other tasks and applications. You define how much power each half gets so a performance issue with one half never drags down the other.

Storage virtualization in healthcare

One of the biggest pain points for healthcare providers is how to keep up with storage demands for EHRs. IT solutions need to be both secure and flexible enough to meet the evolving needs of patients and industry regulations.

Storage virtualization allows healthcare companies to design solutions based on their needs rather than the hardware they have on hand. For instance, if you have a server for EHRs that is running out of space, you could use software to pool leftover space from other servers and workstations to create one huge virtual drive.

With more efficient resource distribution, you can keep sensitive documents stored on site without investing in expensive hardware upgrades.

How to set up a virtualization solution

Setting up any sort of virtualization system is a complex process that requires an intimate understanding of computer hardware and software. To learn more about what sort of cost reductions our services can give you, give us a call today.