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The reality is that Moore’s Law matters more today than at any other time in history. However, it’s not the performance that makes it so critical, but rather the original definition – the number of transistors. As we’re now coming to understand, the way to drive up utilization rates is through virtualization… and the way to get the most benefit of virtualization is to provide more capability in the native chips – and this takes transistors! More transistors means more cores, which means more independent CPUs to be used for virtual machines. More transistors means more cache, for better performance. And more transistors means more functionality, like Intel VT and AMD-V (aka Pacifica), which provides support and capability specifically for virtual machines. These are all critical in creating a platform optimized for virtual machine use, which translates into higher utilization rates and more flexibility. Of course, there are risks involved in this “more” strategy, as more virtual machines running on a physical machine means more risk when there are hardware failures. It also means more complexity when configuring applications, doing capacity planning, or mapping out IO connectivity. The ultimate goal, of course, is to take the benefits of Moore’s Law and mitigate the risks that come with exploiting this new functionality. Sophisticated management tools are coming to market to help, but buyer beware, as some of these tools just add more complexity. Select tools and platforms that reduce complexity while giving you the benefits that come with “mores” law.