Virtual machine use ‘on the rise’

Advanced web hosting users may be using virtual servers to store their data on, but now Gartner has asserted that only 16 per cent of workloads are currently running in virtual machines. However, the company predicts this will rise to 50 per cent of x86 architecture server workloads by the close of 2012.

The quickest growing market for virtual machines is the small business sector, according to Gartner, which pointed out that server virtualisation technology allows for multiple operating system instances to be implemented, run and managed simultaneously on one physical server.

Tom Bittman, vice-president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, said that big businesses were starting to cotton on to the fact that virtual machines can help lower "server sprawl" and power outgoings as well as save data centre space. Small companies were slower to realise such benefits, he claimed.

"For years the entry point was simply too high for small enterprises, but increased competition by server vendors has enabled smaller firms to embrace virtualisation," Mr Bittman commented.

Gartner suggested that firms should adopt a "start small, think big" approach when it comes to implementing virtualised servers, and perhaps those using advanced web hosting packages should take on board this advice. This begins with a certain project and then moves towards "a wider strategic plan", including management and process changes.

Mr Bittman stressed that virtualisation is not the same as cloud computing but it enables and forces the same alterations needed to effectively use the latter. Therefore, he continued, virtualisation inevitably leads to cloud computing.

"What many organisations fail to recognise about virtualisation is that the most important changes aren’t technological, they are cultural," he added.

Gartner recently named virtualisation and cloud computing in its top ten strategic technologies for 2010.The organisation defined strategic technologies as those that could make a significant impact on the business over the next three years.

Written by Jermaine Jones.