Nationwide virtualises servers for greater efficiency

Following a pattern of streamlining processes in the financial technology sector, Nationwide Building Society has virtualised 500 of its servers.

Nationwide is to save an estimated £8 million through this project, as server virtualisation allows multiple servers to run on a single hardware unit, reducing hardware requirements and energy bills.

The upgrade is expected to take two to three years. The project plan is to virtualised an average of 12 servers onto each actual machine, and at the current rate of virtualisation, this will mean that 42 physical servers will be able to perform the work of 500 previous servers. A Nationwide spokesperson said: "This reduction has not only saved space within the datacentre but has also significantly contributed to a decreased carbon footprint through a reduction in power and air-conditioning usage."

This is the fascinating development of technology and one area where we will see the next decade see changes in the approach to software, hardware, the cloud etc. These opportunities will soon be presented by Oracle as it identifies that it too with Sun technology create similar and potentially more powerful platforms for businesses that will save space, increase efficiency, reduce costs, and above all reduce the effects on the environment.