Virtualisation for Industrial IT: Opportunity or a Threat?

It is estimated that 67% of all new global server deployments are now virtual machines rather than traditional physical boxes.  From that statistic alone it is clear many businesses are seizing the opportunity  - with high adoption rates of Virtualisation technology and the rise of VMWare.  IT departments in businesses across the globe have driven the adoption of virtualisation technology to gain access to the benefits that this kind of technology delivers. 

Benefits including: 

• Increased flexibility (central management, fast deployment of new systems, use of libraries and templates)
• Consolidation of physical servers and the associated benefits (maintenance reduction, better resource utilisation, less cooling/electricity usage)
• Move towards thin clients (maintenance and resource gains again here on the client side, simplified backup, failover and disaster recovery)

So let us know ask  if the benefits of Virtualisation are so great and the technology reliable and stable -  then why is the above statistic only 67%?

I believe one of the main reasons for a slow uptake is business risk. Many companies have been able to virtualise some of the less crucial, simpler applications but have shied away from the more complex and demanding systems. Industrial IT systems certainly fall into this category and it is only in the recent years that SCADA and DCS vendors are starting to design their products so virtualisation can be used with them. Compare that with the fact that the first virtualisation products were released back in 1999 by VMWare and it becomes clear that as with many other IT trends, the industrial automation sector takes the time and manages the adoption of new technologies in a sensibly cautious manner.

Here at SolutionsPT we recently took to the road to deliver a series of seminars that examined in detail the benefits and important considerations when looking to virtualise plant systems. 200 registrations across five different events in the UK and Ireland indicates the level of interest in deploying this technology. It also highlighted the support from software vendors and how the ongoing the maturity of Hypervisor technology is giving customers the confidence to explore this.

The seminar explored using the right technology and providing the level of resilience that an industrial system needs. In some cases the common IT approach to deploying a virtual system (clusters and shared storage) does not always offer the level of up-time needed for these critical systems. Plus the complexity of managing the system may not fit in an industrial environment where expertise is in short supply or the site is in a remote location. Add in the lifecycle demands of industrial systems which generally need to be in place much longer than traditional IT type deployments and clearly there are some different issues to contend with here.

Written by Rob Dinsmore,
Availability Product Manager,
SolutionsPT

It is clear that virtualisation is here to stay.  The benefits mainstream IT have enjoyed for years are now becoming available to the industrial IT world - with the developments in the technology in recent years meaning the opportunity is available.

Many customers are now interested in fault-tolerant systems delivering 99.999% uptime. These can provide a rock-solid foundation upon which to build a virtual system and deliver the simplicity of maintenance and the lifecycle needed. For more information please contact us today.