Application virtualisation is fastest growing segment

4% of medium-sized enterprises have adopted this or plan to do so

KACE, a leading systems management appliance company, has announced the results of a new study that revealed more than three-quarters of medium enterprises have adopted some form of virtualisation. In addition the research showed the fastest growing area for virtualisation is application virtualisation, with 64 percent of medium-sized organisations reporting they have either deployed or plan to do so in the next year. Also uncovered is the need for an integrated solution for systems management and virtualisation. Seventy-one percent prefer to combine their systems management tools for both virtual and physical systems in a single, integrated product and many prefer their systems management tools offer integrated application virtualisation management capabilities.

The research, consisting of an online survey of more than 500 respondents, the majority from medium-sized enterprises, was conducted by King Research and commissioned by KACE to gather data about the current state of virtualisation adoption among medium-sized enterprises. Focusing on hot-button issues such as growth of adoption, barriers to deployment, the importance of managing mixed physical and virtual IT environments, and specific areas of virtualisation growth, the research revealed adoption of virtualisation among the medium-sized enterprise proved to be as rapid as enterprise adoption.

The idea that virtualisation is strictly an enterprise commodity simply doesnt hold - medium-sized enterprises are embracing virtualised technologies and adopting them at a rapid pace, realising immediate benefits, said the studys author Diane Hagglund of King Research. Key to the success of virtual technologies will be to limit complexity and to manage these virtual environments in an easy and efficient manner.

A summary of the key findings from the study include:

    64 percent reported they have adopted or plan to adopt application virtualisation in the near future, making application virtualisation the fastest growing virtualisation segment among medium enterprises surveyed;
    85 percent of respondents revealed they have deployed virtualisation technologies or plan to do so within the next twelve months;
    A reduction in hardware requirements was cited by 82 percent as the primary benefit they have achieved with virtualisation;
    Over half reported cost savings as the most important consideration when justifying the cost of virtualisation;
    71 percent of respondents who have deployed application virtualisation technologies cited they prefer systems management tools for virtual and physical systems offered in a single, integrated product;
    86 percent felt that virtualisation has had a positive impact on them personally - almost half cited they could do more with their budgets due directly to virtualisation.

Understanding the need to streamline the management of virtualisation technologies, KACE offers an appliance-based approach that allows IT administrators to both increase efficiency and lower costs. More and more IT professionals today run a mix of both physical and virtual environments. It is especially challenging for mid-sized companies to manage these mixed systems because they often do not have the bandwidth to purchase, administer, and maintain multiple systems management tools. KBOX appliances provide the integrated functionality to simplify systems management tasks in both virtual and physical environments. With the recent acquisition of Computers in Motion, KACE will soon offer integrated application virtualisation deployment and management capabilities as a part of its KBOX Systems Management Appliance family, bringing to medium enterprises the integrated systems and virtualisation management that they need to save time and their companys money.

The King Research report, Virtualization and the Mid-Market: A Survey of Technology Professionals is available at: http://www.kace.com/resources/analyst-reports/Virtualization-and-the-Mid-Market-A-Survey-of-Technology-Professionals.

Survey Methodology

A database of IT professionals was emailed and invited to participate in a Web survey on the topic of virtualisation. A total of 519 respondents completed the survey representing hands-on IT professionals (36 percent), IT managers (32 percent), IT executives (2 percent) and others. This survey focused primarily on the responses of the 291 participants (56 percent) from mid-sized companies, those with 100-5000 employees.

The survey was conducted using Zoomerang, an online survey tool. Respondents were not compensated for participating in this survey except to be offered a copy of the final report. This survey was sponsored by KACE, a provider of IT automation appliances.

About KACE

KACE is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day and enjoy the lowest total cost compared to software alternatives.
 
KACE is headquartered in Mountain View, California.