Amy Newman over at ServerWatch (that's her on the right) has a great column dedicated solely to virtualization called Virtually Speaking, which is part of the site's VirtualizationWatch coverage. This week's piece is on measurement tools. As IT dollars tighten, consolidation projects can easily become a prove it or lose it proposition.

In it she discusses a couple, namely Symphoniq's Trueview and CiRBA's software. And from the looks of it, they can definitely help prove it...

CIOs love to quantify, especially when times are lean. As the measurement tools well-suited to virtualization grow in number and capability — and they already are beginning to — it will get increasingly easier to sell top management on the attendant costs of going virtual.

Another quantifiable perspective from the bigger picture to think about: Today, you've no doubt heard, is Earth Day. Media-hype has made environmental awareness cool. There's no shame in joining the chorus of "going green" and data centers are part of the march, but for reasons that are more practical than altruistic: Power and cooling are no longer commodity expenses. They are expensive, and aren't going to get any cheaper.

Read rest here.