IT organizations often spend multiple weeks to plan, architect, troubleshoot, and deploy a multi-vendor solution to virtualize their infrastructures.  The process is not only time-consuming, but also error-prone, making it hard to achieve a timely and profitable return on investment.  This guide offers recommendations and best practices for assembling and integrating a range of hardware and software components, such as servers, storage, virtualization software, and operating systems. By following the guidelines outlined here, IT organizations can take full advantage of an optimized solution, thereby realizing greater business benefits from their virtualized infrastructure.