Global adoption of virtualization in the enterprise is rising but penetration remains a challenge because of two main reasons. Technology decision makers, some of which were surveyed in Canada, are largely dissatisfied with the experience and they generally aren’t clear on the business value of virtualization.
Those two reasons were among many findings of research commissioned by HP (NYSE: HPQ) that queried 150 CIOs and senior technology decision makers on their thoughts around virtualization.
Awareness of virtualization as a technology enabler is high, and while most projects are only in the beginning stages some 86 per cent of respondents indicated they’ve implemented virtualization projects. And among those already in the implementation phase, 89 per cent said they expected to virtualize 25 per cent of their technology environments by 2010.
While many respondents indicated they plan to eventually virtualize 75 per cent of their technology environments, they may be some time in getting there. While CIOs recognize the value of virtualization in an IT context, such as lower power use and reduced data centre footprint, they’re not yet seeing the growth and completive advantages virtualization can bring them in a business context.
“People aren’t as happy with virtualization as we’d all like to think they are,” said Steve Shaw, category business manager with HP Canada. According to the study just one-third of respondents were satisfied with their virtualization implementations, while two-thirds were not.
“This tells our partners we’ve got a real opportunity to go out there and help those customers be successful with their virtualization implementations,” said Shaw.
To make that happen, Shaw said partners need to start having a different conversation with customers about virualization. While the technology case is important to make with the IT department, Shaw said partners should also look to have a conversation with CIOs and business strategists that frames virtualization in terms of business value.
<p"People want to consolidate servers, reduce data centre footprint, and reduce power use, but what they get out of that is agility and the ability to get solutions to market faster, before their competitors,” said Shaw. “That's going to go a long way to helping our customers see the value in it what virtualization can bring to the business.”
It’s also important, said Shaw, for partners to move beyond pitching point virtualization solutions, such as storage or x86 servers. To help customers see the business value virtualization can bring, partners need to approach virtualization holistically, organization wide. That will also mean having a wider understanding of the client business beyond the technology level, and serving as a trusted advisor.
Not all partners have the ability to offer full infrastructure virtualization, but Shaw said that’s where HP sees the industry moving.
“Some partners are so focused on the point solutions because it’s keeping them busy today, but the ones that will stand-out and succeed will be able to (go wider),” said Shaw. “The partners that aren’t should pause and consider where they’re going next, because this is where we believe virtualization is heading.”
HP made a number of announcements centered around virtualization Monday, from hardware to software. A number of new thin clients were launched to bring virtualization to the desktop, as was the new ProLiant xw460c Blade Workstation targeted at computing-intensive environments such as oil and gas. Support for Citrix’s XenDesktop was extended, and on the software side monitoring and management tools were improved and a strategic development agreement with Red Hat was also unveiled. Also, new and enhanced HP Virtualization Support Services were launched to simplify implementation and management.
