TheInfoPro, a service of 451
Research, released its latest Servers and Virtualization Study, indicating
a major refresh of x86 server infrastructure and the associated network,
storage and software technologies required to optimize performance in
virtualized, cloud-ready datacenters. Conducted during the second half of 2012,
TheInfoPro study identifies key initiatives of senior server infrastructure
managers and examines market factors and major players. This annual study is
based on extensive live interviews with server professionals and primary
decision-makers at large and midsize enterprises in North America and Europe.
Highlights from the TheInfoPro Servers and Virtualization Study
include:
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Server virtualization projects are still driving
activity and spending across much of the IT marketplace, with less than a third
of respondents considering their environments to be sufficiently virtualized.
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The majority of respondents are undertaking a
major refresh of their x86 server infrastructures together with the network and
storage technologies that are required to optimize performance in virtualized,
cloud-ready datacenters.
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In the x86 environment, which represents more
than 80% of respondents' computing capacity, average virtualization levels have
increased 13% from last year to 51%, with a notable increase at the higher
levels, roughly doubling the number of organizations virtualizing production applications.
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The complexity and interdependency of storage,
network, server and software in virtualized environments is driving interest in
'integrated infrastructure' solutions, which include unified computing and
converged and appliance-oriented infrastructure. In these categories,
general-purpose offerings - especially those that are composed of multivendor
components - are gaining favor, with offerings from Cisco and its array of
partners being the most widely mentioned by respondents.
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From the software perspective, attention is
switching from base virtualization capabilities to the automation tools
required to manage production workloads in virtualized environments: service
catalogs, usage-based reporting and accounting (show-back), service-level monitoring
tools and runbook or script-based automation and provisioning.
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With most organizations embroiled in
virtualizing business-critical production workloads, it is hardly surprising
that vendors closely associated with the technologies required to build
cloud-ready, virtualized datacenters top the list of exciting vendors. This
strongly favors VMware as the dominant virtualization provider for x86-based
infrastructure, and Cisco for hardware vendors. Both vendors also top
TheInfoPro customer ratings for promise and fulfillment.
"Server virtualization projects are still
dominating IT activity, creating a one-time spending bubble as organizations
lay down the foundation for a cloud-ready infrastructure," said Peter ffoulkes,
TheInfoPro's Research Director for Servers and Virtualization. "Complexity
is driving interest in converged infrastructure solutions, with 13% of
respondents planning to implement the technology for the first time within the
next two years."