Virtualization Implementation Model for Cost Effective & Efficient Data Centers

Data centers form a key part of the infrastructure upon which a variety of information technology services are built. They provide the capabilities of centralized repository for storage, management, networking and dissemination of data. With the rapid increase in the capacity and size of data centers, there is a continuous increase in the demand for energy consumption. These data centers not only consume a tremendous amount of energy but are riddled with IT inefficiencies. Data center are plagued with thousands of servers as major components. These servers consume huge energy without performing useful work. In an average server environment, 30% of the servers are "dead" only consuming energy, without being properly utilized. This paper proposes a five step model using an emerging technology called virtualization to achieve energy efficient data centers. The proposed model helps Data Center managers to properly implement virtualization technology in their data centers to make them green and energy efficient so as to ensure that IT infrastructure contributes as little as possible to the emission of greenhouse gases, and helps to regain power and cooling capacity, recapture resilience and dramatically reducing energy costs and total cost of ownership.