gartner – Think©Loud

Gartner published their magic quadrant again for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure. VMware again came out as the number 1 company in infrastructure virtualization.

The number of installed server VMs and containers has nearly doubled in the past year as competition improves, virtualization adoption expands, the midmarket heats up, desktop virtualization drives more workloads to servers and workloads are deployed by cloud computing providers.

The magic quadrant by Gartner shows VMware being the number 1 company in x86 Infrastructure Virtualization, followed by Microsoft and Citrix .

As of mid-2011, at least 40% of x86 architecture workloads have been virtualized on servers; furthermore, the installed base is expected to grow five-fold from 2010 through 2015 (as both the number of workloads in the marketplace grow and as penetration grows to more than 75%). A rapidly growing number of midmarket enterprises are virtualizing for the first time, and have several strong alternatives from which to choose. Virtual machine (VM) and operating system (OS) software container technologies are being used as the foundational elements for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing offerings and for private cloud deployments. x86 server virtualization infrastructure is not a commodity market. While migration from one technology to another is certainly possible, the earlier that choice is made, the better, in terms of cost, skills and processes. Although virtualization can offer an immediate and tactical return on investment (ROI), virtualization is an extremely strategic foundation for infrastructure modernization, improving the speed and quality of IT services, and migrating to hybrid and public cloud computing.

For the entire article go to the Gartner post over here.

As we all have noticed Cloud Computing has become the next best thing that has hit IT in a long time. Every company all of a sudden has a product that is “in the cloud”. It’s good to see that a lot of companies are boarding the train, but it also results in confusion and a feeling that is “it’s just to good to be true”.

This can also be seen in Gartner Hype Cycle for Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing is currently at the top op the so called “Peak of Inflated Expectations”. It has been hyped by the IT industry and is indeed generating a lot of expectations. As Gartner predicts this will eventually result in “disillusionment”. Thinking that it’s just one of those “IT things” that will eventually fade away and be replaced by another big hype.

It will however become mainstream in next 2 to 5 years. Evolving into mature business model for provisioning IT services. The “fog” surrounding Cloud Computing will eventually clear the sky. Till that time follow the next simple rules:

Proceed with caution; Don’t believe everything that is said / written about Cloud Computing. There is a lot of rubbish out there. Rational thinking is the key.
Inform yourself; Knowledge is power! Gather as much information as possible about the subject. But again Proceed with Caution!
Fit it into your strategy; No rush! But Cloud Computing should eventually fit into your IT strategy. Keep it in mind making future decisions.
Your not the only one; There are more people / companies out there dealing with the same “cloud”. Talking amongst peers helps a lot in generating your own vision regarding “cloud computing”.