Core Competencies

Virtualization is a proven software technology that is rapidly transforming the IT landscape and fundamentally changing the way that people compute. Today's powerful x86 computer hardware was originally designed to run only a single operating system and a single application, but virtualization breaks that bond, making it possible to run multiple operating systems and multiple applications on the same computer at the same time, increasing the utilization and flexibility of hardware.

IIS is a leading provider of virtualization technologies and services. Our experts will show you how to maximize your IT investments by reducing hardware requirements, freeing up floor space in the data center, and saving on power and cooling costs. In addition, virtualization will simplify IT administration and increases application availability.

VMware ESX Server

The VMware ESX Server is the key platform for building virtualized data centers. VMware ESX Server is a virtualization layer that resides on the server and abstracts processor, memory, storage and networking resources into multiple virtual machines.

The VMware ESX Server enables dynamic, self-optimizing IT infrastructures. With it organizations are able to increase hardware utilization and contain server sprawl by running many virtual machines side-by-side on the same server. With a virtualized architecture, your organization will be able to decrease IT infrastructure capital and operating costs, while maintaining high availability.

In fact, ESX Server's advanced resource management and high availability features enable improved service levels to business-critical applications – even to resource-intensive applications.

ESX Server installs directly on "bare metal" server hardware and inserts a virtualization layer between the hardware and the operating system. ESX Server partitions a physical server into multiple secure and portable virtual servers that reside on the same physical server, regardless of operating system.

ESX Server's virtualized infrastructure centralizes and simplifies IT management, while at the same time boosting security and availability. Security is improved through LUN zoning and masking, VLAN traffic tagging and filtering, and the enforcement of security at the Ethernet layer.

At the same time, ESX Server virtual machines have built-in high availability, resource management and security features that provide better service levels to software applications than static physical environments. They are also isolated from each other by the virtualization layer, thus preventing conflicts and system crashes.

VMware ESX server gives you the ability to virtualize any environment, be it a corporate data center, a set of department-specific servers or a branch office. ESX Server is compatible with more than 200 server and storage systems, and users are able to run unmodified Windows, Linux, Solaris, and NetWare operating systems in side-by-side virtual machines.

Capacity Planning and Virtualization Audit

IIS uses the VMware Capacity planning tool to provide consolidation assessment services. We assess the capacity utilization of an organization's IT infrastructure. From there, we identify opportunities for consolidation and deliver a virtualization roadmap for effective server containment and consolidation.

We provide a detailed report that includes server inventory, performance characteristics and total cost of ownership over a 3-year period.

Design and Planning Services

Building on the Virtual Assessment audit, an IIS VMware Certified Professional will plan and design a customized VMware infrastructure implementation to meet your specific needs for server consolidation and server containment. IIS delivers a detailed virtualization road map that includes:

• Implementation of a prototype reference VMware environment of up to two VMware ESX servers, one VMware VirtualCenter Server and VMware Converter
• Virtualization capacity and financial analysis
• VMware Infrastructure (VI) Design Documents
  • VI Architectural Design
  • VI Assembly and Configuration Guide
  • VI Standard Procedures
  • VI Test Plan
  • VI Rollout Plan

ESX Server Jumpstart and Implementation Services

IIS implementation services are custom designed to help clients plan for and implement virtualization projects. IIS implementation services are designed to help you as much or as little as you need. We can custom design any part of a virtualization project from a kick start to a full implementation.

For organizations new to the concept of virtualization, we offer the VMware ESX Server Jumpstart. Our consultants will introduce you to virtualization and quickly bring up a virtual environment – based on your existing infrastructure – that can be used for a pilot or a staging area prior to rolling it into production.

As part of the Jumpstart, IIS will assess your current server deployment to determine potential costs and realized savings. We will install VMware Capacity Planner Data Managers to collect system and performance metrics on existing servers in your environment (up to 1 month's worth). IIS professionals will analyze data on selected servers and provide a detailed server consolidation and virtualization assessment report, which includes a preliminary total cost of ownership analysis of the sampled environment and recommendations.

For organizations already familiar with and committed to virtualization, we provide full implementation services. These services start with our design and planning services, which lay out a roadmap for virtualization and provide design documents. During the implementation phase, we follow those plans and document all aspect of the rollout, with those documents then serving as the foundation for the development of IT procedures and policy. During implementation, IIS will either help you with or perform the migration from a physical environment to a virtual infrastructure.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Solutions

Business continuity and disaster recovery plans (BC/DR) for many organizations are often inadequate, untested or unrealistic. As infrastructure changes and as new applications are added, organizations often forget to alter their BC/DR plans, which undermines recovery efforts during an actual outage.

In many cases, companies outsource their BC/DR and rely on rented hardware. This in and of itself can be a problem, especially if a disaster is regional. During Hurricane Katrina, for instance, many regionalized BC/DR plans failed because the off-site was simply across town, not out of the region entirely.

To further complicate matters, the servers that are provided at shared, third-party operated facilities are not always exactly the same as the production servers, further complicating recovery and making it a time-consuming and difficult task.

Virtualization allows a company to deploy DR solutions that exactly mirror the production environment, but at a fraction of the traditional cost. A mirrored production environment assures any company almost instantaneous failover capabilities and full confidence in their DR plans.

IIS BC/DR services are designed to reduce both the recovery point objectives (RPO) and the recovery time objectives (RTO). By employing data de-duplication, we can overcome many of the limitations imposed by latency, while we use WAN acceleration technologies to overcome distance restrictions. Our solutions are based on best-of-breed software and hardware solutions from today's most innovative companies.

Data Archiving and Backup

With distributed locations and data centers, data archiving and backup is a challenge for many organizations. In addition to the logistics of orchestrating a parade of tapes and archival media, security is a major issue. What happens if one or more of the tapes are misplaced or fall into the wrong hands?

IIS can help you centralize your data backup and archival solutions. By implementing WAN acceleration devices, nightly backups to remote locations can be performed at LAN-like speeds. SNAP mirror technologies enable LAN-free backup of all your mission critical data, while data synchronization tools ensure that an exact mirror of that data is available for your DR scenarios.

Virtual Desktops

VMware's Virtual desktop infrastructure allows your organization to host desktops inside virtual machines that run on centralized servers in a data center. Users can access their virtual desktops remotely from a traditional PC, from a thin client or even from a repurposed computer using a remote display protocol.

VDI enables you to:

• Manage desktops centrally, simplifying desktop installations, backups and maintenance
• Control access to sensitive data and intellectual property by maintaining information in a secure data center
• Deliver individual isolated virtual desktops to end users that look and feel like their normal desktop
• Provide the benefits of server-based computing without the limitations of shared services or the hassles of application integration

Virtual Software Development

VMware Lab Manager helps you streamline development and test lab infrastructure and operations. Users achieve significant IT cost savings and operational benefits by pooling servers, networking, storage and other resources that can be shared across development and test teams.

Virtual software development also allows you to provision complex multi-machine configurations in seconds, rather than days. You are able to provide on-demand access to a shared library of complex system environments, giving your developers and testers instant use of the resources they need, while leaving IT in administrative control.