Storage & Virtualzation Solutions from Zumasys

Without hesitation, industry analysts, CIOs and IT Managers alike name Server Virtualization as one of the most important IT infrastructure technologies to surface in the past decade. Zumasys has been focused on educating, evangelizing and deploying the many merits of this technology for the past four years. The key players in the market today are VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft.

 

VMware vSphere 4.0

VMware’s server virtualization software has transformed the IT landscape, and its latest offering VMware vSphere brings further improved performance and enhanced functionality to your IT environment.
Leverage the power of virtualization by fully utilizing existing IT resources to deploy new applications, improve availability and ensure business continuity. Dramatically reduce capital and operating costs while increasing IT staff efficiency with VMware vSphere, the most trusted and reliable virtualization platform in the industry. VMware vSphere delivers Always On IT to businesses, bringing the high availability, performance and reliability of the VMware platform together with cost-effective packages designed for any IT environment.

Businesses of all sizes are rapidly adopting virtualization and achieving significant benefits in a number of areas. In particular, with virtualization businesses are reducing the time spent on routine IT administrative tasks, such as adding and managing new server workloads, adding new employees or developing and launching new applications; they are also becoming more responsive to business needs.
Virtualization can also reduce the very real risks of IT outages and data loss. Many organizations have lost critical business data because of an accident, disaster or emergency; many of those have lost sales or customers as a result. Virtualization increases application availability and can dramatically shorten disaster recovery time, so it can significantly improve your business continuity preparedness.
These capabilities along with a broad suite of complementary products that bring additional levels of value (such as automating Disaster Recovery) and a broad ecosystem of technology partners makes VMware vSphere our server virtualization platform of choice.

Learn more about VMware

Virtualization


Microsoft Hyper-V

If Vmware is the “market visionary” in the server virtualization landscape – Microsoft HyperV may be come to be known as the “Comeback Kid!” Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server 2008 R2 is a stand-alone product that provides a reliable and optimized virtualization solution enabling organizations to improve server utilization and reduce costs. Since Hyper-V Server is a dedicated stand-alone product, which contains only the Windows Hypervisor, Windows Server driver model and virtualization components, it provides a small footprint and minimal overhead. It easily plugs into customers’ existing IT environments, leveraging their existing patching, provisioning, management, support tools, processes, and skills. Some of the new key new features that are available in Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 are live migration, cluster shared volume support and expanded processor and memory support for host systems.
A bit more on the some of these new notable features:

  • Live Migration - allows the dynamic movement of virtual guests across physical hosts for purposes of both application and server availability and end user performance.
  • Clustered Shared Volumes (failover)– this feature allows multiple virtual machines that are distributed across multiple cluster nodes to access their Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) files at the same time, even if the VHD files are on a single disk (LUN) in the storage. The clustered virtual machines can all fail over independently of one another therefore saving both storage space and additional management.

  • Expanded Processor & Memory Support – HyperV can support up to 8 Processors and 1 TB of RAM on Host Servers.


Customers should use Windows Server 2008 R2 to get application failover capabilities or flexible and cost-effective virtualization rights (one free virtual instance for Standard Edition, four free virtual instances for Enterprise Editions, and unlimited virtual instances for Datacenter Edition with the purchase of a license of Windows Server 2008), and flexible and cost-effective virtualization rights

IT Pros can easily leverage their existing knowledge and skills with Microsoft virtualization products, as well as the collective knowledge of the community, minimizing any learning curve. In addition, with Microsoft providing comprehensive support for Microsoft applications and heterogeneous guest operating systems, customers can virtualize with confidence and peace of mind.

 

Desktop Virtualization / VDI


Desktop virtualization (also known as VDI – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) has been widely recognized by industry analysts and field experts as a rapidly growing area of virtualization, and for good reason: the many benefits of server virtualization can be leveraged for your desktop environment too! Whether for controlling costs, security, worker mobility, or improving business continuity, Zumasys is your trusted partner for building a virtualized desktop environment. The two market leading products in this space are VMware View 4 and Citrix XenDesktop 4.


VMware View

Deliver rich, personalized virtual desktops as a managed service from a virtualization platform built to deliver the entire desktop, not just applications. VMware View 4 allows you to consolidate virtual desktops on datacenter servers and manage operating systems, applications and data independently for greater business agility while providing a flexible high performance desktop experience for end users, over any network.


Securely Deliver Virtual Desktops as a Managed Service

Manage and deliver virtual desktops through a single console for improved desktop management and fast provisioning. Respond to reorganizations and expansion faster than ever before. Deliver greater levels of availability by maintaining and delivering virtual desktops, applications and data from the datacenter. Improve security and keep applications up to date with better patch management and centrally managed security policies. Give Users a High Performance Virtual Desktop Experience

Let users access their virtual desktops from a wide variety of devices thick, thin or mobile—without any performance degradation. On LAN or WAN connections, VMware View 4 with PCoIP delivers a high performance desktop experience, even over high latency and low bandwidth connections. Choose from several multi-monitor configurations, play rich multi-media and easily connect to peripheral devices. And since desktops are tied to user’s identities and not devices, user’s desktops follow the user from device to device for ultimate freedom and mobility.

Standardize on a Single Platform Minimize your operational risk by standardizing on a common virtualization platform to manage both servers and desktops from the datacenter to the cloud. VMware View 4 includes and is tightly integrated with VMware vSphere, the only virtualization platform tuned and optimized specifically for desktop workloads. Power on many desktops at once without any performance degradation, and easily extend business continuity and disaster recovery features from VMware vSphere to your desktops without adding any extra cost or complexity.


Citrix XenDesktop

Citrix XenDesktop™ is a desktop virtualization and VDI solution that delivers a complete Windows desktop experience as an on-demand service to any user, anywhere. Whether users are task workers, knowledge workers or mobile workers, XenDesktop can quickly and securely deliver individual applications or complete desktops while providing a high-definition user experience. All of this is made possible by FlexCast™ delivery technology that enables IT to deliver any type of virtual desktop, on any device. With XenDesktop, IT can manage single instances of each OS, application and user profile and dynamically assemble them to increase business agility and simplify desktop management.

Any device, anytime, anywhere

Today’s digital workforce demands the flexibility to work from anywhere at any time using any device they’d like. Leveraging Citrix Receiver as a lightweight universal client, XenDesktop users can access their desktop and corporate applications from any PC, Mac, thin client or smartphone. This enables complete workplace flexibility, business continuity and user mobility. Furthermore, VDI solution is no longer confined to a small group of users.


HDX™ user experience

Deliver a high definition experience on any device, over any network, with better reliability and higher availability than a traditional PC. With Citrix HDX technology, users get an experience that rivals a local PC, even when using Multimedia, real-time collaboration, USB peripherals, and 3D graphics. XenDesktop uses less bandwidth compared to alternative VDI or virtual desktop solutions. New webcam and VoIP support, improved audio, 3D graphics support and branch office WAN optimization ensure that users can get a high-definition user experience regardless of their location.


FlexCast delivery

Different types of workers across the enterprise need different types of desktops. XenDesktop can meet all these requirements in a single solution with our unique Citrix FlexCast delivery technology. With FlexCast delivery technology, IT can deliver any type of virtual desktop (VDI), to any user, on any device. Each desktop is tailored to meet the performance, security and flexibility requirements to provide the best desktop for every user, every time.

FlexCast Technology

On-demand apps by XenApp

To reduce desktop management costs, XenDesktop offers the full range of Citrix application virtualization technologies. With application virtualization, IT can control data access, manage fewer desktop images, eliminate system conflicts, and reduce application regression testing. Adding, updating and removing apps is simple and self-service for users, enabling them to access applications instantly from anywhere, while getting a high-definition user experience.

Learn more about Citrix


WAN Optimization

“Riverbed has developed a technology that drives down our IT operational and capital budgets while improving the user experience on our networks. Their Steelhead product line along with RSP has allowed us to mobilize for our clients in ways that our competition cannot even imagine. Our DR replication was also drastically improved. All with an impressive and measurable ROI.”
-John Lockie, Director of Information Technology, CSI Electrical Contractors

Zumasys has seen growing excitement by it small and mid-size customers involving WAN Optimization technology over the past 24 months. With today’s challenging economy, making long-term commitments to carriers and ISPs to improve remote branch user experience by simply throwing additional bandwidth at the problem has been less desirable. Solutions like Riverbed that have a measurable Return on Investment allow IT Managers and CFO’s to mutually agree that a fixed cost solution that provides optimization of their current bandwidth while improving application performance by up to 70x is very compelling.

Riverbed's Steelhead appliances provide the highest level of WAN performance across the broadest range of applications. Available in a wide range of sizes – all powered by the Riverbed Optimization System (RiOS) – Steelhead appliances are also the most scalable approach to application acceleration across your WAN.

Riverbed

Steelhead appliances come in a range of sizes to ensure that each of your offices has a properly sized acceleration appliance. Plus, with our upgradeable licensing capability, you don’t need to oversize a box for your remote offices and can ensure that you still have room to grow while protecting your WAN optimization investment.

Our smallest Steelhead appliance 100 is meant for offices with just a few people; our 6000-series appliances carry enterprise-class data center workloads and can meet the needs of offices with many thousands of users.

In addition to providing great improvement of remote office performance, Zumasys has been deploying Riverbed technology to also improve disaster recovery replication. Customers are further justifying the investment of Riverbed Steelhead appliances to help maintain smaller WAN links to DR locations when performing replication solutions like NetApp’s Snapmirror technology.

Learn more about Riverbed

 

Storage

Shared storage is a key to unlocking agility in your operations through consolidation and is an enabling technology for advanced virtualization features like live migration. It is also the foundation to providing enhanced recovery and streamlined business continuity in the event of a disaster. As the central nervous systems of your operations, selecting a storage platform is a critical strategic decision for your organization.

NetApp


Unlock the full potential of your virtualized servers by enabling virtual machine mobility and offloading the work of data protection. Connect to Windows®, UNIX®, and Linux® servers and clients via standard storage protocols and interfaces.


Our high-availability and disaster recovery solutions help you sleep better at night:

  • Low overhead Double Parity RAID-DP® offers better data protection and capacity utilization than RAID 5 and RAID 1+0.
  • Snapshot™ helps reduce backup times to minutes.
  • SnapRestore® recovers point-in-time data, also in minutes.
  • SnapManager® quickly returns applications to the same point in time as recovered data.
  • NetApp’s innovative thin provisioning eliminates stranded storage. And you can make data-in-place upgrades to more powerful FAS systems, running the same Data ONTAP® operating system and using the same management tools. All within a unified storage architecture.


NetApp’s platform is an outstanding and synergistic complement to the efficiencies delivered by virtualization. With a product line that extends from small branch offices all the way to the enterprise, Zumasys can assist with designing and delivering a storage solution that is a specific fit for the needs of your organization.

Learn more about NetApp

Try out the NetApp Storage Efficiency Calculator

The Cloud (Cloud Computing)

The term “Cloud” continues to be an industry buzzword so ignore the marketing element in favor of the fact that it is the real deal. Cloud computing is a way to increase capacity or capabilities on the fly without a heavy investment into new IT infrastructure, new personnel, or new purchased software licensing. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per use service that is delivered via the internet in real time.

Learn more about Zumasys Cloud Computing


 

Learn more about Zumasys' Storage Solutions -- contact us today at 866-ZUMASYS or via email.