Airport mulls virtualisation project

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) is planning a significant virtualisation project with an estimated spend of more than 400 000 euros, reports Silicon Republic.

The authority issued a tender, saying the virtualisation project would be “a core component of its IT strategy”. As a result of moving to a virtual platform across Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, the DAA says it expects to see a reduction in operational costs, as well as high availability, scalability and flexibility for all server resources.

DAA currently uses Microsoft Windows 200X as its core platform for Intel systems on 264+ server hardware that is between one to four years old. As part of an infrastructure refresh, the authority intends to migrate the majority of its Windows systems and other key server resources into a virtualised environment.

In its effort of offering its customers customised products, iWeb has unveiled virtualisation ready servers, a new line of classic dedicated servers configured specifically for applications that require virtualisation tools, states BenZinga.

A virtualisation platform allows the conversion of a single physical server into several virtual servers. These platforms allow varied uses such as virtual private server reselling or hosting, on a single physical server, applications that require separate software environments.

For its virtualisation ready servers, iWeb has chosen to support three virtualisation technologies that are recognised as industry standards: Xen Open Source, Microsoft HyperV, Parallels Virtuozzo.

Desktop virtualisation will become an increasingly prominent area of investment for companies this year, according to software provider Citrix, says Codestone.

Sumit Dhawan, vice-president for desktop virtualisation at Citrix Systems and strategy leader for Citrix XenDesktop, told MIS Asia that the technology will become mainstream in 2011 due to the changing nature of corporate computing.

He pointed to the fact that enterprise IT is becoming more consumer-led and is turning into an on-demand service, while cloud computing is also growing in prevalence.