• identify all consolidation & virtualization opportunities,
• create step-by-step action plans, and
• provide pre & post consolidation metrics quantifying achieved operational savings.

CiRBA 4.0 enables analysis of all critical factors for analyzing large scale consolidation or virtualization initiatives, including configuration, workload patterns such as CPU utilization and network and disk IO, and business constraints such as geography, business service or maintenance windows. By including all constraints in an analysis, results are maximized while risks are minimized. 

Whether an IT organization is analyzing 500 Windows servers for virtualization or building a corporate consolidation strategy for 30,000 servers across multiple platforms and strategies, CiRBA 4.0 provides the fastest and most accurate path to actionable consolidation information. As a result, CiRBA-optimized data centers are leaner, more reliable, and easier to manage.

CiRBA 4.0’s interactive visual representation is derived using in-depth empirical information about system configurations, workloads and business constraints. Using patent-pending algorithms, the information is analyzed through the use of flexible “best-practice” rule sets for virtualization and OS, database, and application stacking. The results are visually represented through an easily interpreted grid shaped map that can be iteratively modified and re-evaluated at a click of a mouse.

Significant CiRBA 4.0 Enhancements 

• Interactive Consolidation and Virtualization Analysis – At the center of CiRBA’s revolutionary analysis capabilities is a rich set of interactive interface elements and drilldowns that are available directly from the analysis screen to provide unprecedented intelligence. CiRBA 4.0 provides several options for performing what-if analysis to compare different consolidation scenarios. Users can change color mapping to ease visualization of the potential within complex environments, and then drill down for the underlying details and settings that would be required to act on a given plan. The unique ability to combine configuration and business constraints with multiple workload analysis into one roadmap makes CiRBA the most comprehensive way to analyze data center changes. 
• New Interface – CiRBA 4.0 provides a crisp new interface and reorganized navigation menu to make it easer to find and move between tasks.  
• Enhanced VM Reporting Capabilities – A new “VMware Configuration” report is available in version 4.0 that provides detailed configuration on a VMware ESX host server and its guest VMs.  
• Forward Consolidation Analysis – CiRBA also helps IT departments avoid expensive re-sprawl through forward consolidation analysis. With 4.0, users can use CiRBA to find a place within existing infrastructure for a new application rather than ordering new hardware.  
• More Licensing Options – CiRBA now offers a departmental edition targeted at organizations that want to analyze for virtualization specifically and want to examine workload personalities only. The Enterprise edition suits those who want to analyze heterogeneous data centers and use multiple consolidation strategies considering configuration, workload and business constraints.

“Although consolidation—particularly through virtualization—offers enormous opportunity for operational savings, big questions loom for most data centers,” said Gerry Smith, president and CEO of CiRBA. “Specifically, ‘what and how should we consolidate so that we get maximum savings and ensure reliability?’ CiRBA is all about enabling IT to confidently plan their consolidation from a high level strategy to detailed action plans.”

Pricing and Availability
CiRBA 4.0 is available immediately, licensed on a monthly basis with pricing based on the number of server operating systems being audited and term of commitment. For more information, visit www.cirba.com.