Virtual System Pays Off

Last year the Council asked NCS, its IT supplier, why it needed separate servers for Files and Mail storage, NCS Administration, GIS, and Library systems.  Wouldn’t it be cheaper and easier to operate these systems on one or two servers?
 
“The fewer servers we have, the lower our costs should be,” said Finance Manager Geoff Day.

NCS had the technology - virtual server software.  However it was new and still being ironed out.

One year on and the time was right.  In 2007 three of the four servers were due for replacement.  The Council and NCS agreed that virtual servers were the way to go.

A virtual server is software that operates in the same way as a physical server.  A powerful physical server with lots of memory and file storage capacity can operate several virtual servers.

To provide business continuity and IT disaster recovery, NCS opted for two physical servers each running two virtual servers.  The physical servers also have a standby copy of the other’s virtual servers.  The standby servers run if one of the physical servers ever fails.
 
NCS installed the servers over a weekend.  The new system has operated flawlessly.

The council is already enjoying easier IT management and lower operating costs.

“The system is absolutely brilliant.  It’s faster, more user friendly and easier to administer.  We’re happy,” says the council’s IT administrator Diane Maitland.