On Monday, we asked readers in two polls about how they use virtualization. There wasn't an overwhelming majority among the responses, but the numbers indicated that virtualization is making inroads.
About a third of self-identified business managers reported that they're running most of their servers on virtual machines, while more than the 26 percent said they aren’t yet really using virtualization at all.
Among IT managers, over a third said they're using server virtualization, and about 85 percent are using at least some form of server or desktop virtualization. This indicates that even in small and midsize businesses--where the expertise to implement virtualization might not be as easy to find as in big corporations--virtualization is on the rise.
Interestingly, about 20 percent of business users and nearly half of IT users also report at least some use of desktop virtualization, indicating that it's also making strong inroads. This may be partially because desktop virtualization lets you run virtual Windows 7 clients from older systems that won’t run the OS directly.
Beyond having made a start, the next big steps in implementing virtualization are setting up provisioning and management utilities, and optimizing the infrastructure with high performance storage and networking to improve the number of VMs per server and allow for the implementation of private clouds. This allows for the maximum flexibility and agility in creating VMs for testing new operating systems, patches or application versions, deploying new applications, and adapting to new business requirements.
Eighty-seven people responded to our poll for IT managers, and 42 people took the poll for business managers.
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