Why is this happening? You have to remember that virtualization isn’t just about servers or desktops. Virtualization is about creating agile, cost-effective, and enduring IT infrastructures that can evolve to support the enterprise over time. But there is a looming problem that is often overlooked, and one which can bring a virtualization deployment to a standstill – the storage problem.
You mean you didn’t know that server/desktop virtualization actually increases the complexities of storage management? And at the same time, you didn’t know it can actually stress the overhaul needed for high availability, and disaster recovery? Well, don’t get down on yourself . you’re not alone.
Today, we’re releasing the results of a wide-ranging survey on virtualization practices – comprised of more than 450 IT organizations across North America and Europe – that shines a light on this problem. Here’s a sampling of what it reveals:
- Almost half (43 percent) of enterprises have not anticipated the impact that storage would have on their server and desktop virtualization costs or have not started a virtualization project because the storage-related costs “seem too high.” This is alarming for two reasons. First, storage infrastructure costs can quickly balloon and that ultimately has an impact on the entire project since there’s less money to go around. Second, storage costs are preventing some projects from ever getting started.
- Of those that have deployed server virtualization, 66 percent cited a substantial increase in storage-related costs as the biggest problem they are facing. And nearly 40 percent say the storage systems are either slowing application performance or limiting its availability. Many organizations don’t take into account that as they virtualize their servers and desktops, their storage hardware costs will skyrocket to keep up with the growing infrastructure.
I encourage you to download the remainder of the survey findings here: The State of Virtualization and Clouds and the Impact of Storage
In order to achieve the agile, cost-effective, and enduring IT infrastructures you seek, those old ties to physical storage devices must be broken, just like you’ve done with servers. To do so requires tackling the next “Big Problem” plaguing data centers today – dissolving the expensive and restrictive dependency on disk hardware.
