"Lighterweight" Virtualization Goes All Trendy
In a newly released -- and largely gloomy -- Gartner EXP CIO survey that predicts IT budgets will "essentially be flat in 2010," there is good news for virtualization, which is ranked as the No. 1 2010 "Top 10 Technology Priority" for business process improvement, which itself is the No. 1 "Top 10 Business Priority." Talk about cachet.
It gets better. Gartner goes on to laud virtualization's "value-creating productivity," which it shares with No. 2 cloud computing and No. 3 Web 2.0. Specifically, says Gartner, at a time of "multiple budget cuts, delayed spending, and increased demand for services with reduced resources," a technology transition it taking place from an emphasis on "heavy" owner-operated solutions to "lighter-weight services-based, and social media technologies, including virtualization, cloud computing and Web 2.0 social computing." Whoa.
According to Gartner, "These technologies, implemented properly, create the opportunity for IT to change its role and the operational performance of the enterprise. Asymmetric technologies like virtualization, cloud and Web 2.0 enable companies to get out from under a front-loaded, heavy investment model that limits IT's agility and flexibility."
It's nice to see virtualization get the kind of notoriety that comes with being bundled with cloud computing and Web 2.0 -- two industry-wide tech stars and top-of-mind topics. Now, instead of being viewed as pick-and-shovel technology, virtualization may start being viewed as integral to the sleek, lighter-weight new generation of asymmetric computing. Going uptown!
Does virtualization need a new image? E-mail me at [email protected] (preferred) or comment here.
Posted by Bruce Hoard on 01/28/2010 at 12:48 PM