2008: Virtualization wars will intensify!

• Parallel renames itself
• Oracle goes silently for its RAW Iron
• Citrix launches much more aggresive offensive
• Virtual Iron pushes itself into the SMB market
• VMware ships newer products
• Xen spin-off products are coming in dozens
• Sun goes for the xVM

and loads of others who I cannot think of right now since my brain is a bit tired...

He says there will now be much more intensive competition in the server virtualisation market, with the Microsoft, Oracle, and Sun Microsystems offerings providing additional options for the CIO buyer.

“The number of players to consider and the criteria used to select a preferred supplier will need to evolve, so that an optimum technology choice can be made. Vendors will need to work on their sales, marketing and distribution efforts, just as much as they have focused on their technology R&D so far. Marketing execution will be a key determinant of who the victors will be in the virtualisation wars ahead.”

However, Mitchell warned, the CIO’s agenda needs to avoid developing a myopic focus on virtualisation.

“Virtualisation is one of the technologies that is able to help with IT consolidation and a move towards a much more dynamic and flexible model of IT deployment. It works together with many other aspects of IT infrastructure, including changes to hardware architecture and improvements in IT management technology and techniques.

So lots is about to happen, I'll be on the field so you'll hear a lot from me! I can assure you that!

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