Marathon Technologies Corporation, the only provider of fault-tolerant, high availability software for physical and virtual servers, today unveiled its top tips organizations should consider before getting started with server virtualization. While the benefits of server virtualization are well documented, these tips are designed to help companies determine if server virtualization makes sense for them, and if so, how they should prepare to ensure a successful initial implementation.

TIP #1 - Make the Business Case for Server Virtualization

Before implementing server virtualization, IT executives should asses whether the technology will provide a reasonable return on investment. They should first take a look at how they are using servers today and ask themselves:

--  Do they have common applications running on a number of different servers?
--  Do they have enough servers that could and should be consolidated? Is the number of applications increasing and the capacity required for the applications continuing to expand?
--  Do they expect the number of servers they have to buy each year to increase? If so, by how much?
--  Is the business planning to undertake other large-scale technology implementations, and if so, how will this fit with a possible virtualization development?
    

In short, the IT department has to make a strong business case and justify the virtualization investment to ensure executive management support. To help conduct a quick assessment, ROI calculators are available from VMware and Marathon. Marathon also has a webinar recording available with John Humphreys, Program Vice President, Virtualization Software for IDC, "Making the Case for Server Virtualization," in which John provides essential guidance in making your business case.

For the full list of Marathon's top tips for getting started with virtualization, which include planning and implementation considerations, please visit Marathon's blog, Are you Available Tonight?