Virtualization Decisions 2009 Purchasing Intentions Survey results

Data center survey results Check out the results of our sister site's "Data Center Decisions 2009 Purchasing Intentions Survey."

Between June and September, 930 IT professionals that have deployed or evaluated server and desktop virtualization took the survey. They talked about their virtualization plans, the platforms they use and the challenges they face. Here are some interesting statistics:

• More than 50% of respondents are expanding their virtual machine (VM) deployments this year.
• Dell servers are the most popular hardware choice in the server virtualization market, with about 53% of respondents virtualizing them this year. Nearly 38% identified Dell as their primary server hardware vendor for running VMs.
• Windows Server 2003 is the predominant server operating system (OS) in virtual environments. More than 87% of respondents currently have the OS installed, and nearly 80% use it for mission-critical applications. Among open source OSes, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the most popular, with an install base of almost 36%.

The following stories about the "Virtualization Decisions 2009 Purchasing Intentions Survey" -- and our sister site's "Data Center Decisions 2009 Purchasing Intentions Survey" -- give a snapshot of the server and desktop virtualization markets:

Choosing the right server virtualization software vendor

VMware and Microsoft are pulling away in the server virtualization market, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're the right vendors for every organization. Cost, vendor lock-in and the availability of management tools should all be considerations when selecting the right server virtualization software vendor. Expert Bill Claybrook weighs the pros and cons of each virtualization vendor in this article.

Standardized or mixed server virtualization environments?

The "Virtualization Decisions 2009 Purchasing Intentions Survey" results show that organizations prefer server virtualization environments standardized on one platform. But that's not always possible, and mixed virtualization environments can actually have some benefits. Learn when heterogeneous virtualization environments are appropriate and find out which vendors are best for different tasks.

Top server virtualization challenges: Backups and bottlenecks

I/O bottlenecks, backing up virtual machines and managing storage are the top server virtualization challenges facing IT managers today, according to the results of the "Virtualization Decisions 2009 Purchasing Intentions Survey." Both VMware and Microsoft shops report facing the same virtualization challenges.

Virtualization management tool adoption stalls

Most IT shops don't use third-party virtualization management tools for monitoring, management or security -- despite having long lists of problems in their virtual environments. But third-party backup software is catching on; only 30% of VMware shops say they don't use them at all. Some say the recession has slowed sales of other third-party virtualization management tools, which aren't always viewed as necessities.

VMware, Hyper-V leave others in the dust

VMware Inc. is still the dominant server virtualization platform -- 72% of virtualization survey respondents identified it as their primary platform. But Microsoft, with Hyper-V and Virtual Server, has emerged as the clear No. 2. No other platform registered more than 1% market share, making the server virtualization market a two-horse race.

Desktop virtualization intrigues IT pros

Bad news: More than one-third of respondents have no interest in deploying desktop virtualization. Good news: About 20% have deployed it in some way, and another 40% plan to either this year or next year. Early adopters say reduced management costs are the main driver for desktop virtualization deployments.

Users buying, configuring servers for virtualization

Virtualization is driving server purchases and becoming a deciding factor in the kinds of servers that data center managers buy. That's according to the results of the "Data Center Decisions 2009 Purchasing Intentions Survey," where nearly half the respondents said virtualization influences their server purchases. Compute capacity and refresh cycles were the other leading drivers.

Virtualization stunts Linux server growth

As more data center managers move to virtualization, it's affecting the deployment of Linux servers. Fewer data centers are implementing or evaluating Linux servers this year, according to our data center survey. And 61% of respondents plan to expand their virtualization deployments, which is likely responsible for the decline in the number of physical server roll-outs.

Blade server popularity cools

The number of data center managers buying blade servers hasn't exactly taken off this year, according to our data center survey. Last year, 35% of respondents said they would buy more blade servers, and that number decreased to 28% this year. But blades are still popular in the server virtualization market, with 26% of respondents standardizing on them this year, compared to 20% for rack servers.