Server virtualisation used by three-quarters of businesses

Virtualisation is proving popular in the enterprise, with three-quarters of businesses having already deployed or planning to deploy server virtualisation technologies over the next 12 months, according to a recent survey.

Of those companies going with virtualisation, two-thirds are already using it or are in the process of migrating to it while one-fifth will deploy the technology in the next year.

Just four per cent of respondents said they have no plans to use virtualisation at all.

Reducing infrastructure costs is the main incentive and half of those who've already deployed virtualisation techniques said they've reduced costs as a result of the move.

Other reasons for going virtual include ease of deploying applications, making better use of existing servers and the need to consolidate floor space.

VMWare's ESX and GSX are the most popular virtualisation tools with 55 per cent combined market share, followed by Microsoft's Virtual Server with nearly 30 per cent.

A chunk of businesses are also looking to virtualisation for storage - 20 per cent of survey respondents said their organisations are using storage virtualisation technology.

The research was conducted by Yankee Group and Sunbelt Software, a maker of Windows admin tools and enterprise security solutions, and consisted of interviews with 1,700 executives worldwide from both small and large enterprises.