One of the benefits of virtualization technology is to enable rapid provisioning of a new operating system virtual environment. With this ease and rapid speed which new virtual environment can be provisioned, it brings about a new challenge. Organizations may find themselves moving from a physical server sprawl to a virtual server sprawl.
A study by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) showed that only 30% of companies are completely satisfied with their deployments of virtualization technology. This is partly due to the rise in complexity and challenges in managing and maintaining control over their IT environment.
Some key statistics:
- 79% of organizations deploy virtualization technology in heterogeneous environments and has, on average, 11 different platforms, technologies and vendors for management purposes.
- 50% of organizations use only the management tools provided by the vendor for each virtualization tool in their environment; hence, a very fragmented and non-integrated management tool framework.
- 67% of organizations maintain multiple departments for delivery and support functions.
- 34% of organizations report a lack of internal skills required to manage virtualization adequately.
- 40% say they do not have the resources to implement virtualization or expand existing implementations.
These numbers points to a conclusion that companies are unfortunately ill-prepared in embracing a technology which will transform the way IT operates. Unlike a physical environment, where the association of assets to application workloads is visible, a virtual environment is more complex. As VMs proliferate, so does the need for better control and manageability. Otherwise, the end result could be a VM sprawl, orphaned or dormant VMs aplenty, capacity hogged and not released even if required usage already concluded, and over time, the situation may increases management costs till it cuts into the savings that companies seek to achieve in the first place. My solution is simple – IT needs to be transformed into a service center.
What is given freely and easily, is seldom redeemable.
Tags: Consolidation, Cost, ITIL, Service Management, Virtualization