Web DevelopmentBroadband company Internode says it has reduced power consumption and increased the performance of its web servers with new ‘virtualisation’ technology at its two major data centres.
As a result, the company has also managed to lower costs for web hosting for its customers. For example, entry-level web hosting plans now cost $10 a month, less than half the previous price.
Since the start of this year, Internode says it has progressively introduced the ‘virtual server’ technology to its operations, firstly to meet its internal needs and, most recently, for customers. This technique creates multiple ‘virtual server’ environments that more efficiently share the resources of available physical servers.
As a result, Internode has reduced the number of physical servers dedicated to web hosting from 11 to five, while at the same time more than doubling its web-serving capacity, creating a total of 30 ‘virtual servers’. Immediate benefits, the company says, include close to halving of power consumption by Internode’s web servers, reduced demand for air conditioning use and less pressure on server rack space in its data centres.
Internode says the improved operational performance has allowed it to launch a new range of web hosting services for small to medium businesses as well.
Internode Business Web Hosting Product Manager Jim Kellett said, “Virtualisation makes a far more efficient use of servers and eliminates single points of failure, especially as we have spread the physical servers and data storage across its two major data centres. If one of the physical servers fails or a data centre is compromised, then the system immediately transfers the load to other servers or the other data centre with minimal disruption.
See: www.internode.on.net