Server Virtualization Gut Check

Quickly creating virtual machines to support a new application or run a test is relatively simple independent of the flavor of server virtualization. A couple clicks of the mouse and you are on your way. Time is also greatly reduced if you use a “golden image” which will save you from going through the OS install (which is like watching paint dry). So, server virtualization is easy…right?

While creating new virtual machines once the architecture has been deployed IS relatively easy, implementing the new architecture is NOT as straightforward. If I was still an IT Director, these are the kind of questions I would want answered:

1. Which server virtualization solution am I going to choose? Can I choose more than one? While VMware still remains the leader, what about the others? Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, Oracle VM, Sun xVM, Virtual Iron, Parallels Virtuozzo, Xen…… the list is getting lengthy!
2. Besides the physical servers, what other pieces of infrastructure do I need to consider? Can I repurpose equipment and leverage existing investments or do we need to procure new equipment? I see IT shops all too often jump into server virtualization and forget about the other pieces of infrastructure like network and storage until they run into a problem.
3. Can my current IT team design, test, implement and manage the new infrastructure or do I need to hire new resources or re-train my staff? Virtualization enables mobility, flexibility and agility, but there is no hiding the fact that it adds an additional layer of complexity. The up front work will require some level of training and /or external consulting depending on the size of the project. Remember what they say: “Without a plan, plan to fail.”

There are no easy one-line answers to the above questions, but it is important that IT organizations are aware of the choices available and have a clear understanding of the impact server virtualization will have across the data center. The one thing that is very clear is that server virtualization is here to stay and it is now a major initiative in nearly every data center.

O The Places "I" Will Go

The last 24 hrs were a bit of a whirlwind, but resulted in another great experience. Whether I am flying around the world for ESG or around the skies of New England in a J-3 Cub I am all about the next adventure and adding to my list of life's experiences.

Yesterday I was at the National Press Club down in Washington, DC speaking on desktop virtualization. While I spoke to an eager crowd that was attending to see if desktop virtualization is the next big thing, I couldn't help but notice the amazing panoramic view of the White House, Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. Very Cool!

Since I breathe virtualization on a daily basis I understand the goings-on in the industry and vendor communities, but I can't say the same for the business decision makers.

• The biggest question the audience had was "What is desktop Virtualization?" which led me to believe that vendors still have a long way to go with educating the community.
• Desktop security was a leading concern amongst the crowd, whether they worked for the NSA, the CIA or the Department of Agriculture. It's clear that all business sectors are paranoid about desktop security and I believe desktop virtualization has the ability to help lock down and secure the desktop environment. 
• The audience made it clear that the success of the architecture hinges on the end-user experience. Degradation in application response time is not an option. This shows me that the industry needs to develop new tools to measure and model application response time in this new architecture. The tools should be able to ensure success before the environment is rolled out to the end-user.

My bet is that the vendors with regulatory and compliance knowledge have the best shot at success if they can leverage existing relationships, clearly communicate the definition of desktop virtualization and educate how desktop virtualization integrates with other virtualization initiatives in the data center.

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” -Dr. Seuss

Bye Bye Server Huggers

Virtualization is comprised of multiple technologies that span the IT infrastructure with the ultimate goal of achieving IT transparency while delivering improved service back to the business. There is no doubt that server virtualization has had the greatest success thus far, but the current state of virtualization is still in its infancy. Yes, "virtualization" has been around IT for years including mainframe computing, but it has not had the same impact as it is currently experiencing. There is an ongoing debate whether server virtualization is actually being used for production environments or if IT organizations are just dipping their toes in the water and testing server virtualization in test/ development environments. In a recent ESG Research Report,The Impact of Server Virtualization on Storage comprised of current and planned server virtualization adopters, we discovered that 81% of the current adopters were using server virtualization in production to some degree and 46% of the current users consider themselves to be running "Tier 1" applications.

Virtualization is real and it is here to stay. Physical servers will remain in a small portion of the data centers, but virtualization will prevail. Physical server huggers and application administrators will need to loosen their grip and open their arms to a new form of computing. Server virtualization is getting the most traction today, but with the recent announcements and acquisitions from Cisco, CITRIX, Microsoft and VMware we are about to begin seeing the adoption of virtualization rapidly spread across the data center and begin to make its presence known at every layer within the IT infrastructure. Desktop virtualization and application delivery are the next opportunity for the ecosystem of vendors in the space. The success of server virtualization will continue as IT is given more choice of solutions, but it is the virtualization of desktops and applications that will ultimately have the biggest impact to your business.