- Definition: A Virtual Server or Virtual Machine is a service that allows a company to use a server without purchasing, managing or storing the server at their office. Through using this service, a company can store their data or applications offsite, on a Service Providers’ bank of servers. The service functions as a private environment for the customer’s data while taking advantage of the lower cost and redundancy of actually being stored on a large bank of several servers. Employees at the company access the data and applications through the Internet or a Wide Area Network connection.
- Best Fit: A company that does not want the capital expenditure (capex), management and maintenance cost of purchasing their own servers for their data or applications. It is also a good fit for a company that has servers that are running under 80% utilization on capacity because the application warrants a separate server yet is not big enough to take up 80% of the servers’ capability.
- Benefits:
- More Cap Ex Money Available for other technology.
- Lower IT maintenance costs.
- More flexibility. You only pay for the amount of space you are using at this moment in time and you can scale up or down immediately.
- Less Costly Downtime. Your servers are hosted in a data center that has spent millions of dollars on redundancy. Your remote users and/or additional sites are not dependent on your hub site’s power, equipment, connectivity and staff.
- Available Features with Select Providers:
- Virtual Desktop
- Hosted/Virtual Server
- Hosted Citrix
- Burstable Bandwidth
- All Operating Systems
- Mirrored Machines