Despite all the hype surrounding virtualization, the simple fact of the matter is that most IT organizations are approaching virtualization from a tactical rather than strategic perspective.
What drives this tactical approach is that most IT departments today think of virtualization in terms of increasing server utilization to lower costs. This utilitarian approach to virtualization is perfectly valid but it sells the whole concept of virtualization a little short. Instead of thinking of virtualization as glorified system software, IT organizations need to take a more holistic approach to virtualization.
On a macro level virtualization is about creating a higher level of abstraction for running enterprise software. In that context, virtualization creates a de fact modular architecture that isolates application from the underlying dependencies on the operating system.
Furthermore, the concept of virtualization can not only be applied to both servers and clients, it can also be used in the context of providing network services by portioning slices of network computing horsepower.
What all this means is that senior IT leaders might want to sit down and ask themselves how they are going to roll out a comprehensive set of virtual services across the entire enterprise, as opposed to trying to stitch together a hodgepodge of point products that were deployed with little thought to creating any type of overall architecture.
Truth be told, most of the sins of enterprise computing today can be directly traced back to a lack of any forethought in terms of acquiring, running and managing the mass of technologies that make up the enterprise as we know it today.
Virtualization gives us our first chance in two decades to rectify those mistakes by inserting a layer of computing infrastructure that promises to make it easier to run enterprise software more efficiently and more securely.
IT services companies such as Unisys are starting to step up to that challenge be creating a set of virtualization practices that span every element of enterprise computing, including disaster recovery, server consolidation, security and the way we think about software licenses.
In short, virtualization is too important be left to evolve naturally. IT leaders need to craft a deliberate plan to create nothing short of a new model for enterprise computing that will leave no portion of IT unscathed.