Virtualisation Is Real But Cloud Is Hazy – Study

While virtualisation is seen as key to cost cutting for many UK companies, firms are less concerned about cloud technology according to a survey from telecommunications specialist Colt.

According to the survey, released this week, unsurprisingly given the current global downturn, companies are keen to cut costs but also transform their businesses. Virtualisation was identified as a key way to achieve the cost savings with 82 percent of companies identifying it as important or very important over the next 12 months. Only 13 percent of companies said they had no plans to implement storage or server virtualisation, according to Colt.

“With most businesses feeling the effects of the global recession, it is clear that they are increasingly looking for different models for IT that are far more efficient and flexible than the traditional ‘build and manage’ approach,” said Maggy McClelland, managing director, Colt managed services.

But while companies are impressed with the potential of virtualisation, businesses appear to be taking a more circumspect approach to cloud computing with only 27 percent stating that they were planning to introduce the technology in the near future.

“For enterprises, it is time to re-evaluate approaches to IT assets. Many assumptions regarding ownership and how to build IT capabilities are now no longer valid. For most organisations, the shift from buying and building IT to accessing IT as a service is not new,” said Brian Gammage, vice president and research fellow at Gartner. “However, the trend is set to accelerate — in part, because the range of viable service options is extending, which is highlighted by the interest in virtualisation and cloud computing.”

Earlier this month, a Gartner survey revealed – out of its top 10 strategically important technologies for 2009 – that a triumvirate of cloud computing, green IT and virtualisation were where organisations were looking to begin investing again.