Server virtualisation is a technology that not only saves money but results in a more agile business, argues Simon Gay, consultancy practice leader at Computacenter

ICT departments are under constant pressure to reduce costs and perhaps there is no single area receiving more attention than the increasing quantity of Intel servers. All too frequently, a single server supports no more than a single application and servers are poorly managed.

Virtualisation addresses these problems and introduces a number of benefits that offer significant opportunities for a business to increase its agility and responsiveness. It incorporates many of the proven advantages of server consolidation which are further enhanced by lower hardware overheads. With virtualisation, you're able to clone existing servers, and roll out standard applications very quickly.

This gives an organisation the ability to react fast and effectively to changes in its business. It also means you can set up development, prototype and proof-of-concept systems without impacting your live production systems. You can also fine-tune each server as needed. If your web site suddenly starts getting more hits than you expected, you simply reassign resources appropriately. All the time you ensure that you are making the maximum possible use of your computing resources.