Virtualizing tier-one applications has begun to catch on. If your virtualization strategies do not include business-critical workloads, you may want to reevaluate that decision.

Over the past three to five years, a major shift took place in server infrastructure. As budgets tightened, and virtualization technologies matured, server virtualization exploded into a perfect storm on the data center scene.

By the time most IT shops began exploring virtualization, their server environments were rife with low-end servers, which consumed rack space at an unprecedented pace, stressing data center infrastructures to their breaking points.

In many of these IT shops, the return on investment and other benefits of server virtualization, such as reduced power draw and greater resource efficiency, had an immediate effect. But many IT departments found themselves with a daunting list of servers to virtualize. Between migration lists and the constant stream of new servers, IT first attacked the “low hanging fruit,” or the easy-to-virtualize servers that presented little to no risk.

That was a good strategy, but now you are through the “low hanging fruit” and need to take a serious look at how to virtualize your tier one applications. For more on this topic, read my TechTarget article “Tier-one applications: Part of effective virtualization strategies“. Feel free to come back here and leave comments.