How old is your current server?
A few years old, five years, maybe more? The older your server, the more you're losing every day in terms of energy costs, power and maintenance. Today's servers have more than twice the computing power as the previous generation of servers. They use less than half the energy and can be managed by fewer staff. Functions such as Dynamic Power Capping let you set limits on power use, and sensors adjust fan speeds and only power slots that are in use&mdash saving you endless energy dollars.

Backup & Recovery
Backups are copies of active data that are used when a problem comes up and you need a copy to get your organization back up and running at full capacity. It's short- term storage that is overwritten frequently as data is updated. A comprehensive backup and recovery system is a key tool in increasing efficiency and reducing the risk associated with system problems and downtime.

Archiving
When you have data on your primary production server that you're no longer using, it's time to archive it. Archives aren't copies of production data, but are the primary versions that are no longer actively used. Moving these files into an archive makes for quicker backups and recovery times for active data. Plus, online archive access makes for easy retrieval and is more cost effective than storing data on a primary production system.

Consolidation
Fight "server sprawl" by increasing the efficiency and usage of existing hardware. By more efficiently using server resources, you can reduce the overall number of servers your organization needs, as well as lower the costs associated with the extra servers, including energy, hardware and administrative resources.

Virtualization
Server virtualization divides one server into several isolated virtual environments, which allows multiple users to efficiently work off one server using desktop PCs with static hard drives (see Desktops & Workstations, Thin Clients). Users still have a full PC experience, but at a fraction of the cost. Virtualization also improves server availability, and assists in disaster recovery, testing and development.