At the start of a new year, everyone likes to make predictions about what will be "hot" in the months ahead. Rather than consult the crystal ball, Altiris (now part of Symantec) consulted its customer advisory board to find out their top spending priorities for 2008. See what's on their list.

During Symantec’s Manage Fusion customer conference in 2007, the newly acquired desktop management division Altiris pulled together its regular Customer Advisory Board (CAB) to pick the members’ brains about their spending priorities in 2008. The open-ended discussion was led by Steve Morton, a Symantec vice president of product management.

Morton gave the CAB members wide latitude in their discussions. Rather than steer their talk toward products or services that Symantec could offer, Morton asked them to free-flow talk about whatever their hot buttons are – regardless of what vendor could address the issue. Most of the ensuing discussion centered around four hot topics: virtualization, green IT, encryption and offshore management.

It’s not surprising that virtualization is a top spending priority. Virtualization of a data center represents a technology paradigm shift. It is radically changing the technology infrastructure for companies of all sizes, from the very small to the very large. On the small business end of the scale, virtualization allows companies to deploy sophisticated technologies through the ease of a virtual appliance. More importantly for this market, capital expenses for hardware can be minimized. At the other end of the scale, large enterprises are turning to virtualization to consolidate and simplify their data centers. Even so, this market segment is wrestling with the complexity of a virtualized environment (e.g., managing software licenses, patching applications, optimizing performance, etc.). Complex or not, many companies see virtualization as well worth the effort.

Green IT is another top spending priority for 2008. This is a case of “spend money to save money.” Wisely investing in energy-conserving technologies today will hopefully yield significant cost savings payback tomorrow. Green IT also has a social responsibility aspect to it. Companies are out to prove they aren’t leaving an excessive carbon footprint. They can score big in the “goodwill” department if they can show the public the tangible ways they are conserving energy and being gentle on the environment.

Linda Musthaler is a principal analyst with Essential Solutions Corporation.