Hmmm, better power management for virtual machines?

Noticed that one of the power management software developers, 1E, has forged a formal relationship with VMWare as part of the latter company's Technology Alliance Programme. (Gotta love British English spelling!)

The press release about the deal doesn't say much, but 1E says that as part of the relationship, "customers will have greater control and visibility of their virtual assets in their data center, enabling them to protect against uncontrolled virtual machine proliferation."

1E already sells a server edition of its NightWatchman product, which keeps tabs on the energy consumption of both physical and virtual servers. But if you think about it, fast-moving virtualization initiatives are rewriting the rules of data center power usage. Where servers once were maybe 15 percent utilized, businesses are forcing that percentage higher. Which implies the need for better power management.

Heck, since virtual machines don't necessarily have to exist on any particular piece of hardware (unless your company has specific legal requirements), you could envision all sorts of different efficiency scenarios. Such as, for example, moving loads to data centers where electricity pricing was less expensive during a specific period of time. Or consolidating onto fewer systems at times when demand is reduced.