Virtualization Survey Results

LightEdge Solutions recently surveyed our customer and prospect bases on their understanding and use of Virtualization.
Brief Summary (See charts below)

1. We were surprised to see that a full 25% of respondents were unfamiliar with Virtualization and an additional 17% used Virtualization but wish they had a stronger background and understanding level of Virtualization.  33% reported that they currently used Virtualization and felt comfortable with their knowledge level.
2. The perception of Virtualization is that it will be a “game-changer” for IT.  54% of respondents said that it would fundamentally change IT, while another 30% said that it was a good alternative for internally-facing IT systems.  No one claimed that Virtualization would “provide no lasting benefits”, which basically implies that the push to Virtualization is not seen as a short-term fad or marketing hype.
3. With regard to the most compelling attributes of Virtualization, our respondents were deadlocked at 25% for Value and Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery, with Flexibility and Scalability at 20% and 16% respectively.
4. The biggest shortcoming noted in our survey was simply a lack of knowledge based on the fact that Virtualization is relatively new and has not been adopted significantly in offices with fewer than 100 employees (the survey’s target group).  While large enterprise companies have a higher adoption of Virtualization, the general feeling of this survey is that Virtualization is well thought of and that the main thing holding it back is additional knowledge about how Virtualization works, when it makes the most sense, how to implement and manage, as well as, what cost reductions can be achieved through Virtualization.  (Note: LightEdge, in conjunction with Cisco and vmware, will be holding several Virtualization and Cloud Computing events later this Spring to help our customers and prospects better understand the topics around Virtualization.)
5. Consistent with the previous question bullet item, when asked what topics were most of interest it seems that there is a great and varied need for additional information with 56% requesting information about Management and Maintenance, 44% needing information on both Business Continuity and Security.

Conclusion
It appears that there is a strong positive impression for Virtualization but a lack of complete understanding for the demographic surveyed.  We feel that by using our partnerships and internal resources to offer education sessions related to Virtualization that we can assist our customers and prospects in making strategic decisions for the appropriate use of Virtualization to improve Flexibility, Scalability and Business Continuity in their current and future IT platforms.