I have attached a case study highlighting the success of a Compellent/VMware customer that transitioned to server and storage virtualization. The IT function at Compellent is also based on these exact same technologies as you might have expected. The benefits of virtualization are just too big to ignore. The ease by which IT at Compellent responds to increasing application requirements and additional employee headcounts (we are in growth mode) maximizes our internal user's satisfaction while eliminating stress.

My recommendation is talk to someone that has already made the journey to virtualization. I think that you will find the following benefits:

• Significantly less stress on the CIO and IT/SAN administration staff through the inherent simplicity of virtualization.
• Large cost savings on economies derived by virtualization utilizing less IT hardware but in a more efficient manner.
• Large cost savings on reductions in total data center energy usage.
• Large cost savings on data center infrastructure in regards to power, power conditioning (UPS), backup power generation, cooling, humidification and footprint requirements.
• Ease by which newer IT projects are provisioned and brought online.