Six months ago people were tripping over themselves to prove virtualization was everywhere. The Yankee Group, Forrester Research, IDC everyone had a piece on the prevalence of virtualization in the enterprise. For a while I thought I missed a memo and the industry had grown up without me noticing. Now it appears it was a bit of the tail wagging the dog to get some barrier to entry up.
In June, 62% of respondents to a Yankee Group virtualization survey had a virtualization plan and/or were using virtualization within the organization. On first read I ignored the possibility that respondents to a virtualization survey would be virtualization users naturally.
Yankee Group Affirms Server Virtualization Is Transforming Today’s Enterprise IT
http://www.yankeegroup.com/pressReleaseDetail.do?actionType=getDetailPressRelease&ID=PressReleases/news_servervirtualization_07_12_06.htm
Then Silicon.com confirmed the numbers and added 13% points of their own to get to 75% of orgs using virtualization.
Silicon.com - Server virtualization used by three-quarters of businesses
http://hardware.silicon.com/servers/0,39024647,39160051,00.htm
Others started to “pile on” at this time and all we heard about for a couple months was how prevalent virtualization was in the enterprise. “It’s not the next big thing it’s the big thing now and all the platform players are staking their claim”.
Then market reality set it. You should go and stand in a virtualization booth at the next technical conference you attend and count how many folks ask “What is virtualization” and “What do you mean by a virtual machine? What can I do with it?” It’s humbling to have these conversations and realize that you are not swimming in the big pond yet.
Now we have people quietly taking their foot off the pedal. We are down to less than 30% of enterprises using virtualization because it is too much trouble and difficult to manage.
Server virtualization "a worry" for IT directors
http://www.itpro.co.uk/news/97860/server-virtualisation-a-worry-for-it-directors.html
And Microsoft is trying to make sure individual users don’t get too excited about it by stating it is “not mature” for consumers. A recent ZDNet Asia article just makes you shake your head, Microsoft’s marketing undo is to have mid-level non us region folks make corrections and clarifications. http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,61969665,00.htm
The kicker is that if you have been in virtualization all along you are still in it, you just aren’t in control of the spin any more.