Virtualisation is currently one of the fastest growing server deployment options (31% of all server installations are now virtual machines, compared to 0% in 2007). Virtualisation offers tremendous benefits both in reduced capital costs [you buy less hardware] and reduced running costs [lower energy and maintenance charges].

However, one of paradoxical benefits of virtualisation is the improvement in uptime provided. It seems counter intuitive that having all your servers in one box [all your eggs in one basket] can improve uptime but this is indeed the case. The reason being, the virtual machine image is highly portable and extremely quick to reload onto a standby machine (wherever that machine may be), several times faster and infinitely more flexible than rebuilding a physical machine.