Upgrading your hardware is an incredibly long, arduous and costly process. Fortunately, virtualization has become a popular, affordable and flexible solution to upgrade your network. However, before you start investing in virtualized systems, it’s important to consider the benefits and costs that come with this solution.

Small and medium-sized businesses have been seeing improvements in cost reduction and disaster recovery with the adoption of virtualization. Over the last year, virtualization has enabled Strem Chemicals, a Massachusetts-based manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals, to see improvements beyond their bottom line.

Power outages, disasters and other disruptions happen. And thousands of businesses around the globe are affected by them every year, with lost profits ranging into the millions, if not billions. So how can your business protect itself and stay open when the unexpected strikes? Here are five common business continuity strategies that many companies rely on.

Companies of all sizes are embracing virtualization as a way to cut IT expenses, enhance security, and increase operational efficiency. While the benefits of virtualization are self-evident, many people are still in the dark when it comes to the many different types of virtualization.

We won’t waste your time asking if you know what virtualization is. Someone has probably already brought it to your attention. Maybe it was your IT department suggesting it as a way to reduce downtime, or perhaps it was a competitor bragging about how it helped their company improve its bottom line.