Six ways to use virtualization in your small business

August 03, 2013

Virtualization. The word evokes complex, pricey technologies beyond the grasp of all but the biggest enterprises. But virtualization offers many benefits for small businesses, including cost savings and IT efficiency. And options such as Oracle’s VirtualBox and VMware Workstation have put the technology within reach of small business budgets. Here are some suggestions for how you can leverage the power of virtualization in your small business. Replace an old or unsupported machine It happens often enough: The developer of a niche software that you’re using goes out of business, or the software is no longer supported. The original installation files are nowhere to be found, and you aren’t sure of the configuration settings anyway. Rather than spending money to replace a perfectly working app, or keeping your fingers crossed hoping the machine running it will last a couple more years, why not just virtualize the entire PC? That’s easy enough using software such as the free VMware vCenter Converter. This allows you to continue using the unsupported software on any desktop or laptop with sufficient RAM and a decent processor, albeit in a virtualized environment. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2045814/six-ways-to-use-virtualization-in-your-small-business.html#tk.rss_howto