InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

A VDI deployment will change the landscape of an organization, but will it also save it money—or merely be a pricey replacement for traditional desktop builds?

Vendors are offering products to consolidate host communications into a single channel and manage that channel with a central appliance. Get the lowdown on the various options before diving in.

Is virtual desktop infrastructure technology a passing trend or a long-term solution to the problem of unmanageable and unsecurable desktops? It's a complex question, and the answer depends on both our ability to identify the benefits and limitations of VDI and application vendors' willingness to work with us. In this report, we'll analyze the present state of VDI technology, highlighting both its benefits and those aspects needing improvement.

Redmond is positioning itself as a serious contender for the title of hypervisor champ in the enterprise ring. See how Hyper-V compares on eight critical features, including high availability, resource usage, storage and security, before deciding which corner you're in.(C1580910)

VMware's the virtualization champ, but Microsoft's gaining.

We highlight best practices for protecting VMs if and when systems fail.

We surveyed more than 300 network pros on current and planned WAN deployments that link remote and branch offices to the data center.

Storage virtualization enables IT to eliminate storage volumes with hard characteristics, while file virtualization is about abstracting the link between files themselves and their references. The result? Freedom for IT—and users—from regimented storage structures. What’s not to like?

Microsoft's Hyper-V and Citrix’s XenServer can match VMware's ESX hypervisor on core functions such as live migration, high availability and more--and for less money. Looks like VMware has real competition for enterprise buyers.

We provide best practices for backing up VM disk files and building a resilient infrastructure that can tolerate hardware and software failures. After all, what's the point of construction a virtualized infrastructure without a plan to keep systems up and running in case of a glitch -- or outright disaster.