Virtualization: the smart move for modern IT infrastructures
The IT world is under pressure. Businesses expect more performance, agility and scalability while hardware and energy resources are becoming scarce. With AI workloads exploding, systems growing more complex and budgets tighter than ever, the way you organize your servers is no longer a background detail. It’s a strategic decision.
Why physical servers waste more than they deliver
Traditional infrastructures followed a simple rule: one server, one function. A web app here, a file server there but times have changed.
The result? Servers run 24/7 while being used at only 10–15% of their capacity. Energy is wasted, hardware wears out prematurely and operating costs increase. Globally, data centers already account for 1.3% of total electricity consumption. This model simply doesn’t scale.
Virtualization: making hardware work smarter
Virtualization flips this model on its head. Instead of locking one server into a single task, you install a hypervisor—specialized software that allocates resources efficiently. The server is then divided into multiple independent Virtual Machines (VMs), each running its own OS, applications, and services.
The advantage? You can run several workloads in parallel on the same hardware without interference. CPU, memory, and storage are distributed intelligently, making full use of the machine’s real potential.
The business benefits of virtualization
For organizations, virtualization quickly delivers tangible wins:
- Lower hardware costs: consolidate multiple roles (ERP, databases, email, monitoring) on fewer hosts built to handle the load.
- Reduced energy consumption: a server running at 70% efficiency uses far less power than seven underutilized ones. Cooling needs also drop.
- Faster deployment: spinning up a new VM takes minutes, not weeks of procurement and installation.
- Simplified maintenance: updates and upgrades can be done live, without service interruptions.
- High resilience: with clustering, workloads automatically restart on another host in case of failure.
👉 According to VMware, virtualization can cut the number of physical servers by 50–70%. At Sigilence, we go one step further—favoring open-source solutions like Proxmox that deliver the same benefits without the burden of costly proprietary licenses.
Solving the licensing dilemma
Licensing models have shifted dramatically—and not in your favor.
- Before: one license per processor.
- Now: one license per CPU core. And today’s processors easily reach 32, 64, or even 128 cores. Companies end up paying for capacity they’ll never fully use.
👉 This means many organizations are effectively funding dozens of “ghost cores.”
With virtualization, you allocate only what each VM truly needs (e.g., 2 cores and 4 GB RAM). Open-source platforms like Proxmox VE or KVM go further by eliminating per-core licensing altogether—giving you full control of both performance and cost.
A real world success story: industrial SME
A 120 employee manufacturer was running 12 separate physical servers for ERP, email, file storage, monitoring, and test environments. Each was only 20% utilized, consuming too much energy and demanding heavy maintenance.
By migrating to Proxmox VE, the company:
- Consolidated 12 servers into 3 central hosts.
- Reduced annual electricity usage by 65%.
- Cut recovery time from hours to minutes with high availability.
- Lowered software licensing costs by 40%.
Most importantly, IT gained agility: new test environments can be created in minutes and launching new services no longer depends on hardware purchases.
Virtualization: Not Just for Large Enterprises
Virtualization is not out of reach for SMEs. Even small infrastructures with just 2–3 servers can benefit from open-source platforms like Proxmox or KVM. The advantages are immediate:
- Lower costs: fewer servers, fewer licenses.
- Agility: IT responds faster to business needs.
- Simpler operations: less hardware, fewer failures.
- Resilience: a single hardware issue won’t stop your business.
The bottom line: build for efficiency and resilience
Virtualization is no longer optional, it’s the pragmatic foundation for modern IT. It helps organizations cut waste, optimize resources, and give IT teams the agility they need.
The real question is: does your infrastructure truly match your business needs and ambitions? If the answer is “not quite,” it may be time to consider virtualization seriously.
Key Takeaways
- Most physical servers are underutilized (10–20% on average), wasting energy and resources.
- Virtualization consolidates workloads while keeping environments isolated.
- Benefits include cost reduction, faster deployment, simplified maintenance and higher resilience.
- Proprietary licensing models inflate costs; open-source solutions like Proxmox and KVM offer transparency and freedom.
- Virtualization is just as valuable for SMEs as for large enterprises.