Poll: Virtualization Gaining Steam
According to the latest CDW tracking poll, 62 percent of organizations have a strong interest in virtualization.
The poll, released yesterday, shows that 35 percent of companies are currently using virtualization, while another 9 percent are planning on implementing it in 2008, and another 18 are "seriously evaluating" virtualization. The survey studied attitudes about Windows Server 2008, which includes Microsoft's first hypervisor, Hyper-V, as a major component.
One interesting side note in the findings is that the stats for virtualization mirror almost exactly the percentage of companies (63 percent) that say they'll be upgrading to Windows Server 2008, expected to be available in the next two weeks. The margin of error in the report is plus or minus 3.5 percent.
In addition, 35 percent of respondents listed "future virtualization capabilities of Windows Server 2008" as a benefit. I assume that means they're looking forward to the final version of Hyper-V, expected to be available 180 days after Windows 2008 ships.
David Cottingham, director of product and partner management at CDW, said in a press release announcing the poll results that interest in virtualization is mounting. "This is consistent with the increasing interest CDW sees from customers in our offerings of server virtualization solutions ...There are a variety of options available, of course, and while built-in virtualization will not be in the initial Windows Server 2008 Release-to-Manufacture version when it launches on February 27, Microsoft is tapping into this market interest with their plan to integrate virtualization features into the server operating system later this year."
Cottingham is a little off in his remarks. Hyper-V will be shipping with Windows 2008; it will only be a beta product. But it's been pretty quiet on the complaints front so far for Hyper-V, which indicates that it's working pretty well. This is all subject to change, naturally, as more users get hold of it and start testing, but Microsoft has to feel pretty good so far about Hyper-V's stability.
The survey results, I'd say, are positive for the virtualization industry. I'm a little surprised to read that 38 percent of respondents have "no plans to implement" virtualization. One has to think that those numbers reflect mostly ignorance; it's hard to imagine having even a basic knowledge of virtualization and not wanting to take advantage of what it can offer. Hopefully this Website, along with our new magazine and other Internet resources like blogs, can move that figure downward by this time next year.
Posted by Keith Ward on 02/19/2008 at 12:48 PM