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January 19, 2009

Firms unaware of virtual architecture: survey

No effective management strategy in place

By Steve Evans

Two-thirds of UK firms are unable to identify exactly how many virtual machines their organisation operates, according to new research published today.

The survey was carried out by Vanson Bourne for IT consultancy Morse and quizzed 100 IT directors at firms with over 3,000 workers.

The cost and ease of setting up a virtual environment has resulted in organisations losing track of just how many virtual machines they had. Just over half (51%) of enterprises said they have not had time to adjust their data centre management strategy to meet the challenges posed by a virtualised environment.

It found that while 56% of respondents claimed to have a system in place to keep track of their virtual machines, 67% admitted that they did not know exactly how many their company was running.

Many firms are turning towards virtualisation as a way of cutting costs as the economy heads into recession, but this survey indicates that many enterprises are failing to adequately adjust their management techniques. Instead, they are relying on the same management techniques they use with their physical machines.

Tom Brand, senior consultant at Morse, said: “As more and more businesses adopt virtualisation, it is essential that they take a strategic and more disciplined approach and don’t just expect how they are managing their physical devices to be enough to manage the virtual environment effectively.”

“Although many organisations have been caught by surprise by just how quickly virtual machines have appeared and spread throughout the company, there are no excuses for not putting some time aside to ensure that the virtual environment is being properly managed. Failure to do so will not only hold the IT department back from using virtualisation to transform the services it provides, but also place the business at risk of data loss and other serious problems.”

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