Many companies are jumping into virtualization and finding out that they don't know what their virtual infrastructures look like, according to Rob Wilson, virtualization director at GlassHouse Technologies. His company's solution is to offer a monthly subscription to a monitoring tool with consulting built into the contract.

GlassHouse's tool monitors, manages, and reports on a company's virtualization infrastructure. The tool's output is interpreted and watched by virtualization experts. These experts advise companies and when technical problems arise, the companies have someone to call who is already familiar with their virtual infrastructure.

GlassHouse also provides information so companies know how many more virtual machines (VMs) could be run with available resources, or what kind of resources would be needed to add a certain type of VM. The service is aimed at small-to-midsized businesses that don't have 24/7 monitoring ability or lack necessary skills. GlassHouse only supports VMware virtualization products now but plans to add support for other products.

To learn more about GlassHouse, visit the company's site.

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