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

According to a recent survey of nearly 100 IT professionals conducted by SolarWinds, more than 60 percent of respondents have already invested in the cloud or are evaluating it for the future. The survey findings also highlighted that top concerns include security, application issues and lack of experience when it comes to managing the cloud.

As we move along from hype to reality, we see that the cloud will continue to gain momentum, and it's up to us to be prepared. Whether you're thinking about switching to the cloud or have been using it for some time, 2011 will bring a whole slew of new concerns that IT managers will need to recognize, namely: the need for new skills to better ROI, the fact that silos are merging, and the growth of network congestion.

First, until recently most IT admins could make do with their technical/IT backgrounds. However, new business skills will be needed to assess cloud alternatives and maximize ROI, specifically financial expertise. We have found that IT environments are becoming more complex, and as more critical applications are migrated to the cloud, IT teams need to start thinking about the economics and the overall implications of their cloud investments. Public cloud economics will begin to shape how IT organizations are measured, requiring IT pros to work much more closely with their customers to offer flexible and elastic IT services, proactively identify supply and demand, and forecast demand more precisely in order to maximize the ROI of IT investments.

Second, silos are merging - This will have a tremendous impact on how IT departments run. Virtualization, network, storage and server guys will all need to talk to one another since everything has become interrelated. With these newfound interrelationships, teams are going to depend on one another for the good, the bad and the ugly.

And third, when looking to the cloud we'll want to be keeping an eye on network congestion. With the never-ending rise in data, added VMs and additional devices that have access to the network, it's no wonder that good management is a necessity. IT teams should ensure they have the tools ready that will provide them with good visibility into how their network is being used and allow them to correctly manage and optimize the performance of their cloud services.

About the Author

Suku Krishnaraj, Senior Vice President, SolarWinds

Suku brings more than 16 years of experience, specifically in the enterprise software space. Suku leads the product team to help the company shape its product strategy as it continues to move beyond network management and into the broader IT performance management market.