Server virtualisation increasingly popular

Server virtualisation increasingly popular

Server virtualisation is becoming increasingly popular, according to recent research from Freeform Dynamics.

The findings of the report, led by Tony Lock and Dale Vile, revealed that despite the rising level of use, there are still a number of issues to be addressed regarding the implementation of virtualisation.

For example, vendors are often positioning server virtualisation as “the cure for all IT ills”. But while it can achieve a lot, organisations need to be made aware of realistic possibilities on offer. Some of the firms surveyed stated that the cost of virtual server projects came in at higher than expected, due to unplanned spending on storage, networking infrastructure and software.

As a result of the numerous possible problems that can accompany any such large scale project, the paper’s authors stated: “While the business benefits of virtualisation can be significant, the success of broader deployments is directly dependent on sound and realistic planning.”

However, the service is sill proving to be useful. The study found that virtualisation is now seen as viable for a broader range of application types. Indeed, a significant proportion of organisations surveyed stated that they would be happy to consider “almost all areas of IT service delivery to be suitable for virtualisation”.

The news follows the publication of the V-Index study, which found that 39 per cent of servers in the US, UK, Germany and France are virtualised. Furthermore, in larger organisations, the average number of virtual machines actually trumps the number of hosts, at 470 to 113.

VMware was identified as the most extensively used hypervisor, found in almost 84 per cent of the businesses surveyed.

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