Posts Tagged ‘virtual servers’

axon IT Makes Virtual a Reality for Bridge Insurance

Posted by Anna on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

axon IT  has signed a contract to supply two virtual servers to Manchester’s Bridge Insurance Brokers in a deal which has successfully cut costs for the insurance brokers by significantly reducing their server footprint.

Bridge – one of the NW’s largest independent corporate insurance brokers and risk advisers – will now reduce its eight  physical on-site servers down to two, and take on two virtual servers in axon IT’s Manchester data centre.

The move will assist Bridge in cutting costs, improving flexibility and safeguarding all business information against power failures, fire, theft and other such concerns which can have major operational and financial impacts upon a business.

Scott Fosberry, Chief Information Officer for Bridge Insurance Brokers – located in Central Manchester – commented on the deal; “Going virtual can be a daunting task, but axon have taken all the stress out of the process by deploying a complete virtualization solution which has been fully tailored to our needs. Not only has the process helped to cut costs, but we now have all our vital company data stored securely off-site providing crucial business protection in the event of an emergency.”

Graham Fern, axon IT Director said, “More and more companies are realising the benefits of virtualization. By replacing multiple pieces of costly hardware with virtual servers in our data centre, Bridge will see huge cost savings – not to mention the reduction in running costs associated with running and cooling physical machines.

“In addition, Bridge’s business critical information will now be fully protected in the event of data loss through fire, flood, theft or equipment failure, providing Bridge with the contingency planning they need to keep the business running in the event of an emergency.”

Press Information:-
For more information, photography or an interview with the senior management team please call Anthea Fosti at Zeus Public Relations Limited on 01260 271429 / 07971437042 or email anthea@zeuspr.co.uk.

Making Virtual A Reality

Posted by Anna on Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Everybody is talking about virtualization, but it can be a hard technology to grasp if IT isn’t your thing. While you can leave the finer details to the techies, understanding the process will assist you on your way to better business control. To help you out, here’s our simple guide to understanding virtualization and how it can benefit your business.

What is virtualization?

In short, you buy one large physical server and run a number of virtual servers within it. This takes away the need to maintain multiple pieces of hardware without any reduction in services to the end-user or business.

How will it benefit me?

Cost

The major benefit of virtualization, and the one we’re sure will be of most interest to any business owner, is the financial savings it brings. By replacing multiple pieces of hardware with one single server, your maintenance costs drop dramatically. Add to this the reduction in your electricity bill from running and cooling numerous machines, and virtualization starts to become a real no brainer.

Flexibility

Virtualization can also help your business to become more flexible. With all your files, data, applications and emails stored and run from one central location, remote workers can access everything they need, no matter where they are on the globe. This not only enables you to be more flexible with your staff, but can increase productivity across the board giving users the opportunity to log in and work, whatever their location.

Security

While many IT managers worry that virtualizing their networks will make the systems less secure, this is in fact only true of those networks which are already insecure. By unifying the virtual machine security under the same security management console with which you controlled the physical network, your business instantly becomes more secure with all applications and data stored virtually in one place to be backed up as and when necessary. You can also implement and control higher levels of security access so you know who is accessing your data at all times.

Green

Virtualization will also reduce your burden on the environment. By maintaining fewer servers you will reduce the amount of energy you use for cooling, which not only saves you money but decreases your company’s carbon footprint. Servers also use a lot of energy idling so by substituting your physical servers for a virtual one, your power consumption drops, along with your impact on the world around you.

In short, virtualization equals cost savings, improved capacity and enhanced business efficiency and productivity.

Isn’t it time you went virtual?