Network World Canada’s trends to watch: Virtualization

Believe the hype. This was a big trend in ’07, and it will continue into ’08, especially with Microsoft in the game. Microsoft’s Viridian hypervisor is now out as Hyper-V, and is a major shot across the bow at VMware and, to a lesser extent, XenSource.

By most accounts VMware is still the leader, not only in terms of market share but also functionality. What 2008 will see, however, are more innovative forms of virtualization. The original focus of virtualization, which was on server consolidation for increased capacity and cost savings, as well as simplified management and deployment, will evolve in 2008 into more creative uses of the technology. Desktop and application virtualization will ease loads on IT managers, as will storage virtualization.

Microsoft in particular will be pushing hard in those accounts that haven’t already adopted VMware, setting the stage for 2008 to be the year when virtualization is, in effect, normalized. In the coming year the virtualization discussion will be less about technology and more about business enablement.

TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2008

1. Green IT
2. Social networking
3. Roles-based ID management
4. Virtualization
5. Wi-Fi/WiMAX