Useful Virtualization Statistics, Trends, and Best Practices

Virtualization has changed the face of IT operations over the last decade, and it’s continuing to evolve. As digital transformation becomes a bigger priority in your organization, consider the following virtualization statistics, trends, and best practices.

Read more on IT Business Edge: Best Virtualization Software

Virtualization statistics

  • Server virtualization forecast: According to Statista, the global server virtualization market is forecast to grow from around seven billion U.S. dollars in 2020 to around 10 billion U.S. dollars by 2026.
  • App abundance: According to Spiceworks, application virtualization is expected to experience the most growth among virtualization technologies with adoption expected to grow to 56 percent by 2021.
  • Budget boost: Three-quarters of senior executives say projections for cost savings after virtualization implementation have been fully realized, and 70 percent say virtualization has had a significant impact on efficiency and cost savings.

Virtualization trends

  • Lead change: Software as a Service (SaaS) will overtake enterprise-based apps as users and organizations grow more comfortable storing data in the cloud than on personal devices.
  • Favorable shift: Virtual storage area network technologies will become more effective and low-cost, making it easier for enterprises to move virtual machines from one server to another.
  • Desktop assistance: Amazon’s Workspaces and VMware’s Horizon DaaS will accelerate demand for virtual desktop infrastructure deployments.
  • Budgeting tools: More companies will turn to chargeback and metering tools to gain greater visibility into virtualized resource utilization, hoping to improve cost control and workload mapping.

Virtualization best practices

  • Choose wisely: You don’t want to virtualize every application, especially if it won’t save your organization money. Older, smaller apps may work best, as opposed to those with heavy traffic demands.
  • Fully explore what you’re getting into: Before committing, assess storage requirements, backup and recovery support, the number of virtualized guests you can migrate to a host, and so on.
  • Don’t take security for granted: Many virtual systems aren’t patched or they’re patched late. And needed patches and security signatures can be too easily removed, even unintentionally.

Read next: Creating a Cloud Strategy: Tips for Success

Editor’s note: This article was updated in 2022 with formatting corrections and more recent statistics.

Dennis McCafferty
Dennis McCafferty
Dennis McCafferty is a contributor to CIO Insight. He covers topics such as IT leadership, IT strategy, collaboration, and IT for businesses.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends, and analysis.

Latest Articles