Since late last year, cost savings have been driving sales of virtualization solutions targeted at server consolidation, given consolidation's potential to lower both capital and operating expenses in the data center.

"Even in a down economy, customers are still looking for IT solutions where they can realize immediate cost savings and return on investment," says Jason Reiher, category manager, systems and storage solutions, Ingram Micro. "Server virtualization solutions implemented by advisers who have a holistic understanding of how virtualization impacts a data center often meet these needs."

Server consolidation at system refresh time yields ideal savings, says John Sloan, senior analyst at Info-Tech Research Group. Twenty servers nearing end of life can be replaced with two, more powerful servers by putting in a hypervisor and hosting the 20 legacy severs as virtual machines, says Sloan.

Operating expenses are lower in this scenario as well. The new servers likely will be more energy-efficient than legacy servers, reducing costs for power and cooling. Fewer servers mean easier management, less real estate and less supporting infrastructure required in the data center.

In a virtualized server environment such as this, solution providers benefit from the need to consolidate storage as well. In the 20-server scenario, much of the storage is likely to be direct-attached to servers, whereas virtualized environments run best with shared storage. Thus, server virtualization often leads to sales of consolidated network storage, along with storage software and professional services.

Then there's the need for storage backup and disaster recovery. Barb Goldworm, president and chief analyst at Focus, an IT analyst firm, reports that disaster recovery has surpassed consolidation as a driver for virtualization, especially in the midmarket. Why build a full fail-over site when you can virtualize fewer servers?

Virtualization also can create a more robust and highly available infrastructure within the primary data center. "Say you've got virtual servers running on Blade 1, and Blade 2 is open," says Greg Starr, COO at I.T. Works, a Texasbased solution provider and MSP. "If Blade 1 goes down, virtualization enables automatic live migration of the virtual servers over to Blade 2 while you fix Blade 1."

Nick Mancini, partner at The Tech Consultants, a solution provider and MSP in Southern California, agrees. "We look at virtualization from a disaster recovery angle."

Technical and marketing support for server consolidation practices is available from Ingram Micro, which also provides a virtualization help desk staffed by certified engineers. Ingram Micro's Solution Centers in Buffalo, N.Y., and Santa Ana, Calif., offer live virtualization demos for customers. Virtualization experts from the Ingram Micro Services Network (IMSN) are also available to provide assistance in the field. And ingrammicro.com features virtualization resources, including white papers, e-newsletters and a TCO/ROI calculator -- log in to Reseller Home and choose Technology Solutions, then Virtualization to access them.