This past year was a important year for the virtualization industry. For the first time Virtualization became a household name with the VMware IPO and the acquisition of XenSource by Citrix. It was easy to see that virtualization had infiltrated the production environment and was here to stay as companies were now more concerned with the management issues around virtualization rather than the technology itself.

VSM asked some of the notable players within the virtualization industry this question: In your opinion, what was the most remarkable event, announcement or product of 2007...and why? Here’s what they had to say. “History will show that the most significant event in 2007 was the industry harnessing virtualization to lead the Green transformation of IT in order to reduce cost, resolve operational issues and reduce environmental impact. In 2007, virtualization was the cornerstone behind industry milestones such as IBM’s Project Big Green, a $1 billion annual investment to transform global IT infrastructures into "green" data centers, and the world’s first corporate-led Energy Efficiency Certificate program to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Green has made virtualization relevant to a much broader audience beyond traditional IT. As a key speaker at recent Green events “Hollywood Goes Green” and the November UN conference on ICT on climate change, it’s exciting to see virtualization beginning to cross industries on a global scale, having the potential not only to transform the IT landscape – but indeed, to touch government, culture and the way consumers live their lives in the future.” ~ Rich Lechner, Vice President, IT Optimization, IBM

Read the rest of the article, here, and find out what other top industry players are saying.