- Mythbuster busts his own tale
- 10 open source companies to watch
- Sony recalls 73,000 Vaio laptops
- Tool to evade China's Web censorship
- Chrome and Firefox and add-ons
Newsletters | Podcasts | Chats | Opinions | RSS Feeds | This Week In Print | IT Careers | Community | Reports | Downloads | Slideshows | New Data Center
Partner Sites:App Performance | On Demand Security | Networking Solution | SOA | Value of WDS
![]() |
How hot is the virtualization market?
VMware, which created x86 server virtualization and is the dominant player in the market, is absolutely on fire. When EMC bought the company in 2003, VMware revenues were around $100 million a year. VMware’s final numbers for 2007 aren't out yet, but the company is on pace to hit $1.5 billion.
In August, EMC engineered an IPO for 10% of VMware. It turned out to be the most successful high-tech IPO since Google, with EMC raising nearly $1 billion when 33 million shares were snapped up at an opening price of $29. The stock continued to soar, exceeding $50 a share on opening day, and soon thereafter cresting at more than $125 a share. Today, VMware is selling at close to about $80 a share, which gives the company a market capitalization of around $30 billion. That’s hot.
And the virtualization market is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, IDC is predicting that worldwide spending on virtualization software and services is expected to jump from $6.5 billion in 2006 to more than $15 billion in 2011. (Compare server management products.)
No wonder Citrix shelled out $500 million in October for open source server virtualization vendor XenSource. (Add your opinion to one of our 50 greatest networking arguments: VMware vs. Xen.)
So, if you've got a room full of x86 servers running at 10% utilization, what are you waiting for? Virtualization can help you consolidate servers, run your data center more efficiently, and make it easier to allocate server resources to match business requirements.
According to a recent survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey, IT decision makers decided to implement server virtualization for the following reasons (in order of popularity): improve server utilization, lower data center operating costs, improve disaster recovery/backup capabilities, create a more effective software development and testing environment and lower IT admin costs.
Virtual servers, real issues
But before you jump into the virtualization, be aware that there are very real management and security issues that you need to address.
Adding a hypervisor layer to a server so you can run multiple instances of an operating system is a great way to get more bang for your hardware buck. But there are still plenty of things you need to think about.

In this whitepaper learn how Retrospective Network Analysis (RNA) has proved a different type of...
SNMP Monitorin One Critical Component to Network ManagementSNMP is a valuable tool to any network administrator who requires complete visibility into the...
Monitoring and Managing App PerformanceThis paper defines application analysis, discusses the different categories of tools on the market,...

Double-Take (r) Software and Microsoft are teaming up on September 9, 2008 for a webinar focusing...
Transforming the Enterprise WAN Edge: Video from CiscoLife on the edge of your WAN has changed dramatically. With the need to deliver advanced services,...
PoE Plus: Impact on the PoE MarketThe standard for Power over Ethernet (PoE), IEEE Std. 802.3af(tm)-2003, advanced networking,...

Archiving, backup and data protection take on ever more critical roles in the enterprise. Data...
The New Network/System Management ChallengesIncreasingly popular technologies such as virtualization, wireless networking and data center...
Virtualization Reality CheckFind out why analysts say approaching virtualization with an ounce of caution is wise. And also why...
Partner Content
Explore the Ultrium Edge
The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.
Find out more
Disk and Tape Square Off
Discover what disk and tape really cost -- and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization
Download the White Paper
Don't Fall For The Myths
The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.
Download the White Paper
Will You Add Tape Too?
Over two thirds of disk-only users look to add tape back into storage infrastructure according to recent survey.
Download Survey Information
Comment