Server virtualisation goals are ‘lofty’, says executive

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IDC’s prediction to have 80 per cent of x86 servers virtualised by 2011 was described as a “lofty goal” by an industry executive.

In an interview with IT PRO Scott Herold, lead architecture of the virtualisation business at Quest Software, championed the cause of virtualisation, but was more realistic with his goals.

“To achieve that there would have to be a change in mindset across all of the IT industry,” he said.

“It is a very lofty goal. We may have the know how [and] the experience but it is up to each organisation. It’s a lot of work to change these processes and to do so over the next 15 months. That’s a lot of virtualisation,” he added.

However, Herold believes 100 per cent virtualisation could still happen.

“The time for 100 per cent virtualisation? Indefinitely,” he added.

“It does depend what area we are talking about though. 100 per cent workloads? We are close to this. 100 per cent x86 servers? I think we will hit the 80 to 90 per cent mark but then larger companies will hold off virtualising the core of the business.”

“All of the data centre being virtualised? No. I think we will get close but 100 per cent is again a lofty goal.”

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