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Embotics: Fortune-Cookie-Style Predictions for Virtualization in 2011 - "You Will Have Many Friends Who Adopt Lifecycle Management"

What do Virtualization and Cloud executives think about 2011?  Find out in this VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed Article By Mark Jamensky, vice president of engineering, Embotics   

Fortune-Cookie-Style Predictions for Virtualization in 2011 - "You Will Have Many Friends Who Adopt Lifecycle Management"

I've noticed a disturbing trend in fortune cookies lately.  Those who tuck their visions into the final course of Chinese takeout meals have grown timid.  "Fortune cookies promote literacy," read the last slip of paper I pulled out of cookie.  Before that, there was, "You would prosper in the field of wacky inventions."  Why so timid?  Why not, "You will prosper in the field of wacky inventions"?  Now that would be something to look forward to.  While the prognosticators at the fortune cookie factories seem to be hedging their bets lately, I won't be timid in my predictions for 2011.  If I could sneak a few prophesies into your cookies for the coming year, I'd focus them all on the data center.  Here's what they'd say:

 "A thrilling time is in the immediate future." 

There's been a lot of hype around the imminent arrival of the public cloud.  Don't get me wrong; there are certainly active segments of public cloud deployments today. However, the majority of enterprises continue to focus on their own internal virtualization and private cloud efforts. Before organizations have free mobility between private and public clouds, they will have to solve security, regulatory, export and complexity issues that most cannot even fathom. Even though public and hybrid private/public cloud environments will continue to garner significant attention, the time and money in 2011 will go to the nuts and bolts of private cloud management.  That is thrilling, as it's a vital stepping stone to wider cloud acceptance and availability.  Private cloud expansion will also be far more immediate than the grand visions some have for the public cloud.

"Your perpetual patience will be rewarded."

Hyper-V adoption will be slow but steady in 2011.  Clearly, there is still some work to do before Hyper-V can technologically compete with VMware, but Microsoft is undoubtedly on a path to doing it. This competition is significantly more complex than the browser wars of the past, and they will take longer to run their course. That said, Microsoft is indeed making progress. And for reasons of both cost savings and sole-source avoidance, multi-hypervisor deployments will expand their inroads in both medium and large organizations.

"Be prepared to accept a wonderful opportunity in the coming days."

Perhaps paradoxically, the increasing market awareness of the complex nature of virtualization will drive substantial growth in virtualization management next year. VI administrators will adopt VM lifecycle management and capacity planning tools to support their continued adoption of virtualization. They will seek out solutions that integrate and automate, enabling them to rise above virtualization plateaus that stymied progress in 2010. This will occur even in organizations that have not previously valued automation tools, since the rate of growth and churn in virtualization is increasing significantly while the size of IT staff often stays the same.

Automation requirements in 2010 will focus on one core requirement: solutions will have to work right out of the box. Only the largest enterprises with significant professional services budget dollars can consume and operate large and involved frameworks. The majority of data centers require technology that powers up and starts working immediately, delivering turnkey automation built around templates that reflect proven industry best practices.

"Happy news is coming to you."

I plan to spend New Year's Eve pondering the potential implications of one my recent fortune cookies ("a surprise announcement will free you"), while star gazing on a frozen lake and looking for additional fortunes that illuminate the future data center.  If you have some predictions of your own, I would like to hear from you. Contact me at mailto:mjamesky@embotics.com.

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About the Author

Mark Jamensky is vice president of engineering for Embotics, the virtualization lifecycle management company. He is a seasoned R&D manager with more than 21 years of experience in software and hardware development.

Published Thursday, December 16, 2010 6:05 AM by David Marshall
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