Virtualization’s merits now more clear than ever

With Intel’s disclosure yesterday regarding their data center consolidation which will save the company up to $1.8 billion, I had an “ah ha” moment, because the company’s involvement, investment and interest in virtualization in its many forms, is becoming very clear.

I admit that when I first heard about Intel’s investment in virtualization player VMWare, I was not surprised since the company’s capital arm invests in a range of companies, but a few years ago, to non-engineers such as myself, the concept of virtualization was still mainly just that – a concept.

Since that time, with research (by myself) and roundtable discussions our staff has conducted, those virtualization concepts have really been fleshed out and now use cases can be seen across a wide swath of industries.

As Intel’s Brently Davis wisely points out in his video blog, the definition of virtualization comes in two approaches: one soft, one hard.

Particularly since we now have a much clearer understanding of these approaches, surely this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what will be seen in the near future for all the uses of virtualization.

We do know that virtualization is not hurting sales of mid-range servers, thanks to the huge installed base that will need to be replaced, and what remains to be seen is the rate at which large corporations follow Intel’s suit and realize such significant financial and square footage savings.

What are your thoughts? How is your company leveraging the benefits of virtualization? Please comment or email me directly at ann.mutschler@reedbusiness.com.

–Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor