InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

Automation isn't easy, but without it, you'll never get self-service or self-healing, or realize full cost benefits.

Next up for private cloud initiatives: automation. Is your organization ready to take that plunge? We’ll explore the fundamentals of preparing, deploying, testing—and eventually letting automation systems run without human intervention in production environments. We’ll also ­examine integration and performance-optimization issues involved with promising new automation technologies.

IT must efficiently and securely deliver all the applications employees need, no matter where they are or what devices they’re equipped with. Nearly 500 IT pros weighed in on how they get this done. For 66%, the browser is the preferred architecture, but the biggest surprise was the popularity of application virtualization, which is in widespread use by 35% of respondents.

These systems can provide invaluable insight--vital if a private cloud is in your future.

While a technology that warns of problems before they arise may sound too good to be true, predictive systems have been in use for years by financial, retail, healthcare and other sectors. Now it's IT's turn.

IT can't--and shouldn't--maintain absolute control over highly virtualized infrastructures. Instituting a smart role-based control strategy to decentralize management can empower business units to prioritize their own data assets while freeing IT to focus on the next big project.

Five ways to streamline your virtual environment.

Getting to a next-generation virtualized data center will be difficult with today’s technology and standards.

We offer five steps to help you develop a more enlightened approach to managing a highly available virtualized environment.

The launch of VMware's latest flagship hypervisor raised more questions than answers. While VMware continues to redefine the virtualization game, rivals -- mainly Microsoft and Citrix but also Oracle, Red Hat and even Ubuntu—are vying for market share. And enterprise IT is obliging. But will this platform heterogeneity hamper our quest for pervasive virtualization?