Channel Strategies for the CIOThe technology winds shifted in 2011, and more and more solution providers were investigating cloud computing technologies. In 2010, XenServer tips
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garnered the most attention, but this year our readers have been interested in vSphere 4 and 5. The top five systems channel tips of 2011 provided guidance for VARs and MSPs on how cloud computing trends are shaping their business and how to best provide services to customers around virtualization.
These tips give step-by-step advice on how to perform a vSphere health check and bring big picture views of cloud computing and virtualization with suggestions for value-added services and other sales opportunities.
Current
VAR cloud computing business trends: Top resources
Cloud computing business opportunities saw enormous growth in 2011. These days, VARs no longer
see the cloud as a threat to business, and new opportunities are opening up to meet customer
business needs. SearchSystemsChannel.com produced this guide
for VARs to see where the cloud market is trending and what cloud services solution providers
should think about offering customers.
Selling
your customers a private cloud computing environment
While the prospect of being at the mercy of Amazon or another cloud provider might seem scary to
some customers, the benefits of cloud computing can be had in a private, more controlled, cloud
computing environment. Contributor Sander van Vugt explains how customers that need automated VM
deployment and business continuity assurance may find private cloud computing to be the right fit
and how
VARs can sell the private cloud.
Tips
for virtualizing Exchange Server with vSphere 4
This chapter excerpt from Virtualizing Microsoft Tier 1 Applications with VMware vSphere 4
shows VARs how to avoid roadblocks posed by Exchange
Server physical deployment with vSphere 4, including performing host upgrades without downtime.
Learn how to virtualize server roles in 2010’s Exchange Edge server can help make VAR services more
flexible in meeting customer requirements.
The
importance of a vSphere health check to VARs
Author Eric Siebert contends that performing
a vSphere health check is one of the most valuable services a VAR can provide to a customer.
Testing and optimizing vSphere not only ensures that everything is going smoothly, it’s also an
opportunity for VARs to provide value-adds to their customers such as RVTools, and vKernel.
Siebert’s checklist of points to inspect in vSphere confirms that everything in the virtualized
environment is performing optimally.
Advantages
and disadvantages of server virtualization
Server virtualization has been evolving and now serves as the underlying technology behind the
cloud. It’s a crucial component of the systems channel and has grown from a practice intended to
save customers on physical server costs to become a tool for improved performance and building out
private cloud computing environments. SearchSystemsChannel.com staff compiled this guide to help
solution providers comb through the considerations
around server virtualization implementation for customers and to see how the big three server
virtualization products stack up.
What did we miss? Was there a hot topic in 2011 that you want more information about? Send your feedback to Site Editor Leah Rosinand follow us on Twitter.
This was first published in December 2011
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