From the blog:

While the delivery of virtual machines is indisputably faster than deploying physical machines, it is often assumed that this also streamlines the process of deploying IT Services (applications). Virtualization can be used as an accelerator for building out highly dynamic cloud based services, however, the fact remains that while provisioning and deploying VMs has been greatly simplified, application deployments are still complicated and dependent on People, Processes and Technology.

Sure, in a perfect world where organizations only run one application on one type of OS, and one version of that application – virtualization can certainly automate the entire process of application delivery.  QA and development environments have been realizing this benefit for years.  However, what happens when organizations begin to accelerate their adoption and begin migrating mission critical, multi-tier applications to the virtual data center?

Unfortunately, we live in an IT service world that is comprised of ever increasing complexity requiring in-depth knowledge of application deployment, application dependencies, application monitoring and a deep understanding of security and regulatory requirements.  Combine this with the myth that applications deployed in the virtual data center can be delivered faster, cheaper, and easier, it is no surprise that some operations teams are struggling to meet these expectations.  How many times has the underlying virtual infrastructure (VMs) been provisioned in minutes, while the actual delivery of services takes hours, days, or in certain cases, weeks.

The full post can be read at http://www.zdnet.com/blog/virtualization/myth-virtualization-increases-the-speed-of-delivering-it-services/2642

Increasing application complexity, the growing volume and frequency of application changes, and the need to execute operations across multiple environments and infrastructures (physical, virtual and cloud) are causing application failures, bottlenecks and delays. IT operations are struggling with the challenges of managing the release and maintenance of data center applications – with quality, on time and on budget. Read more about Nolio ASAP.

I couldn’t agree more and would like to stress the importance of application service automation.

Modern data centers are very different from traditional data centers. The main challenge of modern data centers is not primarily the number of servers, it is the complexity of the multi-tier applications that run on those servers.

Deployment, changes and configurations, troubleshooting, recovery, expansion and other repeated processes on complex applications with multiple tiers, large numbers of servers, and specific dependencies between application components is challenging. Add to that the complexity of running applications on virtual or cloud environments.

Let me repeat: Modern data center applications are complex. Relying on error-prone manual and scripted processes to service and maintain data center applications often results in costly application downtime caused by human errors.

This is where new automation and management tools, such as Nolio’s, become useful.

In the high-stakes world of application availability, this is something your business cannot afford. Data center application service automation is the answer.

—
Nolio Application Service Automation is a software platform for designing and executing automated application service workflows across the data center, enabling reliable, effective processes for the management of application change.