Virtualization

Until recently, virtualization has been focused on data-center optimization. With virtualized servers, hardware utilization goes up and flexibility increases. At the same time, costs associated with hardware and ongoing maintenance drop.

Virtualization is now expanding beyond servers. On the trend front, it is being linked to the green data-center movement. The server efficiencies that come with virtualization also translate into lower power consumption and a smaller footprint within the data center.

Meanwhile, now that the technology for server consolidation has matured, virtualization could expand beyond the data center. VMware, Sun, Citrix and Novell all have mature technologies. Meanwhile, behemoths like Microsoft and Oracle have entered the space, further validating the technology.

Within the next couple of years, virtualization could find its way to the desktop. In the near-term, though, virtualization will be mainly a data-center play. Virtualization is the driving force behind data-center automation initiatives. It has the potential to bring on-demand workload automation and high-availability infrastructures together for cheaper, more flexible, more reliable infrastructures.

In the longer term, desktop virtualization could give users greater flexibility and IT better control. Many analysts have dismissed virtual desktops as yet another thin-client mirage, but what is more likely to happen is that virtualization will line up with other trends like service-orientated architecture (SOA) and mobility to deliver on-demand applications to whatever device users happen to favor, be they PCs, thin clients or smart phones.