GM Is Moving Deeper Into ‘Next Frontier’ of Virtualization

General Motors Co.GM -0.87% is joining the ranks of large companies that are replacing traditional hardware such as storage and networking gear with software, a process known as virtualization.

Like most companies, GM began to virtualize mainframes and servers years ago, and that process is more or less complete. Now, having seen the economic and operational benefits of that process, GM is moving to virtualize other elements of its IT infrastructure, according to Jeff Liedel, executive director of the company’s global IT operations. He is based at the company’s $130 million data center in Warren, Mich.,which was modeled on IT infrastructure developed by Internet companies such as Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. The data center project was overseen by CIO Randy Mott.

“Virtualization brings a lot of benefits,” Mr. Liedel told CIO Journal. The virtualization of the server market paved the way for the spread of many kinds of cloud computing over the last few years, because it facilitated the sharing of hardware by multiple users. He expects that the expansion of virtualization into new areas of IT will have a significant impact, too.

“From a cost perspective, virtualization allows us to better leverage the hardware that we have across a variety of domains. We see the utilization of capital go up, and that is a good thing for any company.”

Virtualization allows companies to run software on lower-cost commodity machines. Assuming a certain degree of standardization among lower-cost gear makers, GM will be able to include hardware from a variety of vendors in its infrastructure. “We will be able to mix suppliers in a more seamless fashion. Virtualization allows you to have a multi-vendor environment and be less reliant on proprietary tools,” Mr. Liedel said.

GM has virtualized about 80% of its servers. As Mr. Liedel said, the company always will have a need for some servers that are linked to specific applications, so the level will never reach 100%. Virtualization of storage is in the early stages, and is only about 10% to 20% complete. Network virtualization is in the exploratory stages, but promises benefits such as dashboards that make it easier and faster to configure the network. “Software-based management tools make it easy to reallocate storage of networking capacity. You don’t have to physically recable something,” Mr. Liedel said.

Further into the future, he expects more applications to be virtualized.  Years ago, all applications had their own logon or password components. “Other functions and applications can be virtualized,” Mr. Liedel said. “I think that is the next frontier.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/06/11/gm-is-moving-deeper-into-next-frontier-of-virtualization/