What is Consolidation?

Consolidation involves reducing quantities; server consolidation can reduce the number of physical locations where servers are installed, the actual number of servers, the quantity of software licenses, or the number of points of management.

Forces Driving Consolidation

A variety of forces are contributing to interest in consolidation projects, including the following:

Improved hardware. Intel-compatible hardware has increased in power while decreasing in cost, as evidenced by the growing availability of relatively inexpensive multiprocessor and 64-bit systems from both Intel and AMD. The widespread use of network attached storage and storage area network hardware is also encouraging consolidation of data storage onto fewer devices.

Improved software. Software has improved in performance, availability, and reliability, and server software can better isolate and manage applications and processes running simultaneously.

Improved bandwidth availability. Improvements to networks, including increased bandwidth between server locations and customers, enables consolidation, reducing the need to locate servers close to users to ensure adequate system response time.