Emerging Tech Network World Canada’s trends to watch: Virtualization Tim Wilson @itworldca Published: January 7th, 2008Believe 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 2008Green ITSocial networkingRoles-based ID managementVirtualizationWi-Fi/WiMAXWould you recommend this article?00 Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article! We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication. Click this link to send me a note →Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada Emerging Tech storage virtualization