Proponents of virtualization say the technology allows a company to optimize the performance of computing devices and maximize the space available on servers. Still, according to a recent CIO magazine report, adoption rates for the technology remain low.
History is part of the problem, according to the technology news provider. For the most part, virtualization has traditionally been delivered on relatively small machines incapable of matching the workloads handled by the mainframes in massive data centers.
Much of that has changed through innovation, as the capability of virtual machines has drastically changed during the past several years.
"But as enterprise IT evolves and changes, we can discover new lessons and gain insights that can produce improvements we didn't even anticipate," Todd Weiss wrote for CIO. "That's the beauty of staying on top of the changes within IT and taking advantage of the lessons learned by others."
When deploying virtual machines or adopting virtual data storage environments, it's important for companies to ensure they prioritize virtualization security. As with traditional models, virtualization also requires a layer of protection to keep data passing through virtual machines safe from threats posed by cyber attacks.
With such measures in place, a company can be confident its virtualization strategy will be effective.
According to a recent ZDNet report, virtualization can help a company "rightsize" itself. The term refers to clearing out unnecessary overhead from payroll, data center and third-party support, according to the report.
"Virtualization helps businesses decrease their hardware footprints, decrease the number of needed support personnel and increase management capabilities of those computing assets," Ken Hess wrote for the news provider. "Therefore, rightsizing a business through virtualization is very compelling."
In the end, a company may be able to weather difficult economic times by maximizing available resources with virtualization.
