One of the things I love about my job is the interaction I have with IT professionals out there just getting on with stuff in mainstream IT departments. It provides a real contrast to many of the discussions around visions, transformations and magic bullets that all too often characterise the vendor pitches and briefings we as analysts are continually on the receiving end of.
As part of our community activities, one of the mechanisms we use to tune into experiences and perceptions at the sharp end is the online workshop. In a nutshell, we work with one of the big news sites, e.g. The Register, and elicit feedback and discussion by publishing a series of thought-provoking articles exploring a particular topic from various different angles. Along the way, we run surveys to provide more quantitative intelligence on what's going on.
At the time of writing, we are working through the topic of virtualisation in one of these workshops, and have just finished dealing with the x86 server side of the equation. If it's an area you are interested in, check out the links below, and don't just read the articles, have a scroll down some of the comments attached to each. Various bits of feedback bring the discussion of costs and benefits to life, for example, confirming some of the stuff we get from vendors, but also throwing up some things we don't often hear, or providing real world examples of principles in action or practical considerations.
We'll be writing and publishing a summary report on all of this soon (one of my jobs for this week), but if you are into virtualisation and are interested in a bunch of real world views and experiences, I encourage you to click across and have a browse of the raw material in the meantime.
Virtualisation Workshop Links
Is server virtualization delivering for you yet?
Real world, real benefits?
Virtualization payback, now and in the future
Do you really want to join this pool party?
Virtualization rocks - but who cares beyond consolidation?
Roundup of discussion from Week 1
Server virtualization – what could possibly go wrong?
Rise of the Virtual Machines
Virtualization security – oxymoron or perfect partnership?
New environments, new security risks
Does *free* virtualization = certain chaos?
Round-up of discussion from week two
Counting the cost of virtualization
Avoiding nasty surprises
When is an operating system not an operating system?
Challenging traditional ideas
Getting under the shell of virtualization
Week 3 round-up: On kernels and other nut puns
The discussion within the workshop is now moving on to desktop virtualisation, and we'll be finishing off by taking a look at the relationship between virtualisation and cloud computing. So, feel free to check here for new articles and feedback over the next few weeks.
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