Virtualisation is mainstream, says Yankee

Three out of four businesses either use server virtualisation or plan to deploy it over the next 12 months, new research has revealed.

Virtualised systems allow IT resources to be pooled and optimised across servers, making more efficient use of hardware.

A worldwide survey of 1,700 managers found that 76% of organisations were intending to use virtualisation. Of these, more than six out of 10 firms already had virtualisation in place or were in the process of migration.

Another 21% of the firms interested in server virtualisation intended to install it within the next 12 months, the research from analyst Yankee Group and Double-Take Software found.

Just 4% of respondents said they had no plans to install server virtualisation, the survey found.

The main reason for adopting virtualisation was reduced infrastructure costs, cited by 43% of companies, while 18% mentioned easier, more flexible deployment of applications deployment and 15% said they used virtualisation to improve server utilisation rates.

The research found that half of those businesses that had already  deployed server virtualisation in a production environment had already seen costs fall as a result of server consolidation, reduced licensing costs and savings in management time.