Virtualization and Beer: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together

“It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that disaster recovery is the real killer app for virtualization,” writes Kimbro Staken today at Virtualization Daily, commenting on a recent news story about the Foster’s beverage company. And it’s true that, beyond the management and energy savings associated with virtualization, one of the most compelling aspects of this technology is just how useful it can be in times of crisis.

Mobile workers in the EMEA unit of Foster’s are equipped with laptops whose images are stored virtually and frequently updated.

“In the event of any issue–such as theft or hardware malfunction–affecting a particular machine, any worker can access an up-to-date virtual replica of their lost laptop when they return to any one of Foster’s European offices.” (ZDNet)

The company plans to eventually make these images accessible through a secure Web page. In other words, they’re on the path to what ClearCube already offers — access to the original desktop experience, over the Web, through our Sentral software.

But back to the story of the beloved Australian beermaker. Ken Kaban, European technology services manager for Foster’s EMEA, says that “the virtualization environment has … reduced the amount of time it takes to set up a server from two weeks to 20 minutes.”

The virtualization movement appears to be catching on Down Under. Paul Harapin, managing director for VMware in Australia, recently told The Age that

“many clients are looking at virtualisation as a disaster-recovery solution, as it is easy to load a backed-up virtual server onto new hardware. … ‘It’s not about just saving money on buying servers…The real benefits start to come in terms of business continuity and disaster recovery.’”

Desktop virtualization offers very similar benefits to server virtualization, including fast setup and ease of management. And, in the event of a disaster that prevents employees from reaching work, or even leaving their houses, work can continue without interruption on the appropriate access devices. This combination of rapid recovery and business continuity capabilities will only make virtualization more vital to disaster recovery in the future.