Virtualization – Does Anyone Really Know how to Do It Well?

I found myself reading a report on-line today that was showing how poorly companies are implementing virtualization — in particular, how they are essentially falling backwards in achieving greater efficiencies in their infrastructure compared to the wastage they had before implementing virtualization. In fact, i’m not surprised. Most of the companies I worked with over the years had little ability to digest something as sophisticated as virtualization, would not be able to implement the process changes needed nor could they manage the lifecycle management issues that come up. The core vendors (VMware, Citrix, et al) did not deliver (and i think are still not delivering) the right kinds of software management solutions that counter balance the lack of sophistication many of these companies have in their IT management practices.

So what does this all mean? In my opinion it means there are still many opportunities for innovation, especially for companies that can solve the real needs of the IT shop. Virtualization, still widely misunderstood, is a tool that brings flexibility to the data center. Unfortunately, flexibility is the worst enemy of most organizations who still largely depend on slow moving processes to control their lack of ability to automate what needs to be automated. Companies still do not have effective reporting tools deployed to alert them to inefficiencies in their data center (although there are many out there, including PlateSpin’s own PowerRecon i dare say). Companies still do not really know what they want to accomplish with virtualization and the vendor battle has mostly become a political war of marketing and selling versus a technologists market of great solutions that really do change the IT landscape.

If this ultimately does not get fixed, the IT vendor world is once again letting down the consumer by failing to deliver real innovation that makes everyday life — corporate and consumer, a better experience overall.

Rant, rant, rave, rave — i’ll try not to trip as I get off the soap box.

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One Response to Virtualization – Does Anyone Really Know how to Do It Well?

  1. Jason Dea says:

    I agree and in my albeit limited experience in the same field, I think you’ve pointed out the limiting factor that many vendors have overlooked. Process change. Much focus has been put on the infrastructure and plumbing side of the equation, and how virtualization can add value there. However the business processes that the infrastructure is designed to support have been built up over a much longer period of time, and thus are much more difficult to change. Unless that is considered then the full value of ‘next generation infrastructure’ will not be unlocked.

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