STRATO, the second-largest hosting provider in Europe, is constantly extending and updating their data centers to improve overall efficiency, reduce power consumption and save energy. By implementing SWsoft Virtuozzo virtualization solution, STRATO was able to increase the number of customers on a single server by 30 percent and streamline the administration of 10,000 virtual environments.

STRATO serves over one million customers with tailor-made solutions for their various needs -- from webhosting to virtual and dedicated servers to complete web shops. Demand for virtual environments shows the largest increase rate and uses the capacity of a third of the 30,000-plus STRATO servers. As part of a recent expansion of their two datacenters in Berlin and Karlsruhe, STRATO optimized server management using SWsoft solutions, increasing the efficiency of their virtual environments while also reducing electric power consumption per customer by 30 percent.

"SWsoft's virtualization and automation solutions are just perfect for STRATO's needs," said Julien Ardisson, chief technology officer, STRATO AG. "They ensure that all our customers get the guaranteed capacity for their virtual environment – regardless of the physical server. In addition, using Virtuozzo enables us to serve the individual requirements of our customers with greater flexibility."

SWsoft Virtuozzo is different from traditional hardware virtualization solutions in that it dynamically partitions a single Windows or Linux operating system instance into highly efficient and scalable virtual environments or "containers". Virtuozzo is the only virtualization solution that enables dozens to hundreds of containers to immediately and automatically leverage real hardware, resulting in exceptional datacenter efficiency, which results directly in reduced administration and energy consumption.

"Using Virtuozzo virtual environments rather than dedicated physical servers is helping STRATO to reduce its total cost of ownership, while conserving energy," said Soeren von Varchmin, managing director for SWsoft’s European and Asian operations.

STRATO customers benefit with service uptime and higher performance
SWsoft's automation solutions cover most standard administration tasks such as providing and installing updates for virtual environments. Plus, they provide STRATO customers with maximum service uptime and performance. For example, during maintenance and peak usage periods, workloads can be transferred onto other physical servers with no disruption to end users.

Using SWsoft Virtuozzo, STRATO can easily handle peaks in customer demand and use all available hardware resources to ensure maximum quality of service. Virtuozzo offers extensive features to manage hardware resources so that available resources can be reallocated in real-time to handle peak workloads.

Virtuozzo drops power consumption
STRATO is committed to energy-saving technologies and was able to lower the energy consumption per customer by 30 percent in the last 18 months. That was achieved through the combination of SWsoft management software, intelligent building services engineering and energy-efficient hardware with the latest improvements from Sun Microsystems and AMD.

Starting in January 2008, STRATO will use only electric power generated from renewable resources, which will save 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This is equivalent to the electric power consumption of 5,000 households (with four persons per household).