Every business owner, large and small, knows that time is money. Every business owner also knows that updating and maintaining IT systems can be a drain on time — and money. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Recent technological developments have made it easier than ever for companies to conduct critical system maintenance while operating in business-as-usual mode.

In today’s operating environment, taking IT systems offline for an extended period simply is not an option. This was the case for one of my clients, a large pharmaceutical manufacturer.

To accommodate growth, the client knew they needed to update their power system to a newer, faster model. But they were stumped on how to do so without losing precious operating time.

Using virtualization technology, my team and I were able to design and implement a solution while keeping all core business operations in motion.

Step one in addressing such a task always includes an in-depth discussion with the client. This discussion is critical. To provide the best solution, we must understand not only the IT challenges, but also the overall challenges the business faces.

Problems like this cannot be addressed with a preset idea. They have to conform to each business, their circumstances and their environment. A deep understanding of pain points is critical to getting the system right.

For this client, we determined that new IBM POWER8 processors (which were smaller and faster than the client’s current systems) paired with system virtualization would do the trick for the job at hand.

This approach allowed the team to avoid the type of system outages this pharmaceutical manufacturer was dreading. By virtualizing their older Power7 system in place with no outages, then using Live Partition Mobility to move each workload to the new Power8 server hardware in Boston, we were able to replace the old system with minimal outages.

With virtualization this client can now operate their business and serve their customers in a much more efficient manner. Every day, this system helps them work smarter and save money. It’s a definite win-win for everyone involved.

If you would like more information, visit us online at teamhuber.com or call us at 888-634-5000.