Allstate, one of the leading insurers in the United States, was adding hundreds of servers to its data centers each year. If that rate of increase continued, even with the average server using typically less than 10 percent of its CPU capacity, the company would have required additional facilities. To reduce server growth and improve hardware efficiency, Allstate launched a server consolidation initiative that included deploying virtual machines in the company's test and development environments using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005. Pilot tests showed an increase in hardware efficiency and a 25 to 50 percent reduction in server growth in the test lab, with the potential to save several million dollars (U.S.) over five years.
Related white papers
A Day in a Low Carbon Life 2012
What might it be like to lead a business in 2012? This whitepaper describes a day in the life of a fictional CEO four year ahead, preparing to face market...
An examination of server consolidation: the trends that can drive efficiencies and help businesses gain a competitive edge
This white paper provides a starting point for organizations contemplating server consolidation. It includes an overview of server consolidation concepts and techniques and provides guidance on methodologies. It also looks...
A Blueprint for Better Management from the Desktop to the Data Center
In the new service-oriented world, virtualization is critical. However, with virtualization comes a new set of management challenges. The introduction of virtual machine operating system “images” as a first-class IT...
Automation for the New Data Center
Is your data centre being squeezed by increasing power and cooling costs? Are your servers underutilised and costly to manage? Virtualization enables data center managers to make far better use...
IBM Information Server Change Data Capture
In today's fast-paced world, access to real-time data has never been more important. To be successful, organizations need to be able to report and analyze corporate data quickly and easily,...
Reducing Data Centre Costs and Simultaneously Implementing Environmental Policy
What are UK companies doing about energy efficiency? In Q1 this year, analyst IDL to profiled decision makers with responsibility for environmental policy and Data Centre operations to better understand...
Live Webcast: Dell EqualLogic PS Series Demonstration for SQL Server Protection and Rapid Recovery
Join Dell EqualLogic for a demonstration of the PS Series with Smart Copy functionality, designed to deliver comprehensive SQL Server database protection, rapid recovery and high availability.


