Virtualization: What? Me Worry?

According to a survey conducted by Emedia, an e-mail research/marketing company, virtualization is moving into the mainstream with 50 percent of IT professionals who responded already using the technology, or planning to do so within the next 18 months. However, 52 percent also responded that virtualization systems are introducing new security challenges.

Interestingly, says Emedia, the later the implementation of the technology is scheduled for, the more apprehensive respondents seem to be. The survey indicated that 51 percent of current users think that virtualization poses some new risks, 57 percent amongst those planning to use the solution within the next 6 months, and 66 percent among those adopting it within the next 6 to 18 months.

Survey respondents generally think that they can overcome these threats by taking safety measures such as staff training/improving understanding (51 percent), patching/updating/hardening servers (38 percent), using firewalls (30 percent), and separating networks/subnetting/routing (25 percent).

David Clark, managing director at Emedia, concludes that "the advantages of virtualization appear to be tantalising but it seems that IT managers approach it with caution."

Posted by Jon Erickson at 09:31 AM  Permalink