Virtualization has been around for quite some time, but it's only within the past 2 years that the technology has really started to take off and gain in popularity. Likewise, utility computing is only now starting to get the notice that it believes it's due. Commercial utility computing solutions based on virtualization such as 3Tera's AppLogic and Amazon's EC2 are starting to get more attention.

To help try and understand the utility computing market better, I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak with 3Tera's Bert Armijo, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Management and Peter Nickolov, President and CTO.

Q: Virtualization is the latest popular buzzword in the technology industry and every media outlet is talking about it in some form or fashion. Can you tell us, why aren't more people talking about Utility Computing?

A: New technologies, developments that aren't linear extensions of existing systems, always take time to catch on. Virtualization came out in 1999, but it wasn't until five years later, in 2004, that it became a hot topic. Utility computing really started just last year with the introduction of 3tera's AppLogic in February 2006, and six months later Amazon launched EC2.

Now that we have users who have been in production for more than a year and new releases of code are coming out, we're seeing more and more interest and coverage.

Q. Do you believe that utility computing is the next step for people once they get into virtualization? Is the technology inevitable?

A. There are a lot people adopting AppLogic that have never used virtualization, so I don't see it as a required stepping stone for utility computing. The value propositions are different.

Utility computing is a business enabler. Most Web 2.0 users start using AppLogic because they want to be sure they can scale when they get demand. SaaS vendors want to be able to replicate applications for users at will. Enterprise users are interested in making infrastructure become responsive to business requirements. Virtualization, on the other hand, is most often used for server consolidation. The adoption has been driven by cost savings, and that's clearly reflected in the coverage they've gotten.

Is utility computing inevitable? I'm biased, of course, but I believe so. Building data centers, racking servers and plugging network cables in no longer adds value to most businesses. We've proven that not only can you tap readily available computing resources as easily as plugging in a toaster, but that the result is more resilient and flexible. Technology transitions don't happen over night, though, so we're working with many customers who want to build their own utility as well.

Read the rest of this interview, here.