Businesses are not realising the value of
virtualisation technology because they underestimate its impact
on existing IT systems, says IT services firm
Axispoint.
Server virtualisation, which reduces the need forphysical
servers, is becoming increasingly popular because of the
environmental and cost benefits.
Brian Shafer, director at Axispoint, said virtualisation offers
a more cost effective way of managing and maintaining
infrastructure and applications, but there can be pitfalls.
"Like all technology in the hype curve, there are hidden costs
and implications of deployment," he said.
According to Shafer, companies often underestimate the impact of
virtualisation on their email systems, for example.
Peter Borner, managing director at Axispoint, said despite the
increased interest in virtualisation, many organisations are
confused by the range of options available.
"IT heads wanting to realise the benefits of virtualisation need
to plan carefully to choose and implement the right technology for
their organisation and set the right expectation of benefits," he
said.
A recent YouGov survey of 200-plus IT directors revealed that
server virtualisation is exposing business IT networks to
attack because many IT directors are unaware of the security
risks.
The survey found more than 40% of IT directors who have
implemented server virtualisation mistakenly believe security is
built in.
Andreas Asander, vice-president of product management at
security firm Clavister, said it was dangerous for companies to
believe that virtual servers are automatically secure.