Organisations put data centres in place to deliver cost savings, reduce risk and provide greater flexibility to their business.
If implemented well, the data centre ensures highly reliable, secure, well tested and closely managed service delivery that meets the high expectations and standards organisations have for IT.
Over the last decade data centres have traditionally come to be run on Unix/Risc platforms, which have come to take over from the mainframe; but Microsoft has entered the world of data centres as a major contender, with its data centre offerings offering capabilities that equal those provided by Unix/Risc, at a fraction of the total cost of acquisition.
With the correct disciplines in place, Windows in the data centre provides faster performance with lower maintenance costs.
Scalability, availability, manageability and interoperability are some of the key performance areas Windows brings to the data centre.
Scalability
Scalability is a key concern for organisations of all sizes and is an indispensable requirement for any server. Enterprise computing environments commonly face large workloads and cannot afford to have hardware or software limit business operations.
From a systems standpoint, scalability can be enabled in two ways: vertical scaling or "scaling up" where the system`s performance is boosted by harnessing multiple processors within a single server; and horizontal scaling or "scaling out" where the system`s performance is grown by lashing together multiple servers into clusters using high-speed interconnects.
Organisations strive for maximum uptime and scalability is one of the keys to minimising downtime. The last thing a company wants is suddenly to find that it is running out of capacity when new applications or upgrades need to be implemented urgently. If scalability is not ensured in the data centre, the task of introducing upgrades or new applications could become burdensome and the resultant downtime could cost the company financially.
Availability
Reliability and availability work hand-in-hand, with reliability playing a big part in achieving the 99.999% availability organisations aim for.
Hardware in the data centre has been reliable for many years, but software reliability has been more of a challenge.
Microsoft has addressed the problem of reliability in its applications through continuous research and development, and current Windows operating systems are far more reliable than previous generations.
Today the Windows data centre platform is specifically suited for high-end hardware deployments for use on business-critical and mission-critical applications where the highest levels of scalability and availability are required.
Manageability
The manageability of Windows in the data centre enables IT staff to become more proactive with capacity management, resource management and maintenance, and is yet another key in the quest for maximum availability.
Proactive capacity management enables organisations to prevent such events as memory shortages from occurring unexpectedly, while proactive resource management enables organisations to identify when application resources are running low, and allocate more resources accordingly.
The more manageable a platform is, the easier it is to address problems as they arise. The better prepared the IT administrator is, the faster problems can be resolved. The faster the resolution, the lower the downtime.
Reliability
Improved dependability is invaluable for Windows in the data centre, and like scalability, reliability and manageability, it is another of the key concerns for the organisation. Dependability is also an issue for users whose performance relies on the dependability of the applications and IT systems.
As businesses become increasingly Web-based in the delivery and fulfilment of their business processes, it is even more important for computing services to be able to respond 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.
Interoperability
Operating systems change over time and the server platform must support multiple instances of an operating system. By supporting multiple operating system images on a single system, a company can enjoy lower management costs while being able to take advantage of migration from one version of an operating system or application to another.
By introducing a Windows platform into the data centre, and putting in place the appropriate data centre disciplines around that platform, organisations can benefit from the scalability, reliability, high availability, manageability and interoperability that enables the platform to perform optimally. A Windows platform provides enhanced user productivity and reduced business risk by ensuring that all the necessary key performance requirements are in place.
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