Abstract
Report Focus
This report focuses on the North American market for virtualization among organizations in the mid-sized (100-1,000 email users) and enterprise markets (>1,000 email users). Osterman Research conducted a survey specifically for this report in order to understand current and future trends in the use of virtualization for various messaging-related applications. Early subscribers to this study were provided the opportunity to submit questions that were fielded in the surveys conducted for this report. As a result, the research focus of this report was shaped to some extent by these organizations that represent a wide range of vendors in the messaging market.
Key Findings and Trends Discussed in this Report
The impact on server hardware could be significant
At its core, virtualization is about making hardware significantly more efficient, whether virtualization is deployed on servers, client machines, storage, etc. That means that significant growth in virtualization over the next few years - one of the key findings of this study - could result in a significant negative impact on server and other hardware shipments over the long term.
Reasons for deploying messaging virtualization focus on costs, business continuity
The two leading reasons that organizations cite for deploying virtualization technology are to reduce hardware costs and to improve disaster recovery/business continuity. Other important reasons to deploy virtualization, cited by roughly three in five organizations as a driver or major driver, are optimizing the IT infrastructure, to make it easier to add additional capacity to existing services and to reduce the cost of IT labor.
IT understanding about virtualization needs improvement
IT decision-makers' knowledge about virtualization has a long way to go: 34% of these decision makers have, at best, only a modest understanding of how virtualization could be used for email server applications, while 37% have this level of knowledge about how virtualization could be used for storage systems. Similarly, nearly twothirds of IT decision-makers are no more than modestly aware of the existence of commercial or open-source virtual appliances for messaging functions.
The penetration of virtualization will increase rapidly
Today, under 10% of email servers are running as virtual servers, but decision-makers anticipate rapid growth in the use of virtualization for email servers during the next two years. Similar growth rates will occur for security and mobility servers.
Windows is the preferred email-related OS
Windows is clearly the preferred operating system for use in email applications, as shown in the following figure: 72% of decision makers will prefer Windows Server as the backbone of their email infrastructure for the next six months, while nearly as many will prefer Windows Server for their email infrastructure projects well into 2009. Even if the entire email infrastructure in organizations could be scrapped, most of which is built on Windows Server, most organizations would still prefer to go with Windows Server as the backbone of their email infrastructure.
Vendor familiarly needs improvement
Most decision makers or influencers in IT departments are not familiar with most vendors of virtualization technologies. For example, the vast majority of IT decision makers are familiar with only with leading vendors like VMware, Citrix, IBM, Microsoft and a few others.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
- Executive Summary
Chapter 2
- Background and Methodology
Chapter 3
- Current Messaging Infrastructure
Chapter 4
- Messaging Preferences
Chapter 5
- Knowledge of and Drivers for Virtualization
Chapter 6
- Messaging Virtualization Trends
Chapter 7
- Vendors of Virtualization Technology
List of Figures
- Status of Current Messaging System Architecture
- Median Users per Server, Organizations Up to 2,500 Users
- Median Users per Server, Organizations >2,500 Users
- Percentage of Organizations in Which Appliances are Not Used, by Application
- “Do your anti-virus and anti-spam servers run on your email servers or on separate servers?”
- Preferences for Messaging Management Platforms During the Next Six Months Given the Current Infrastructure
- Preferences for Messaging Management Platforms During the Next 12-18 Months Given the Current Infrastructure
- Preferences for Messaging Management Platforms Assuming the Entire Current Infrastructure Could be Replaced
- Decision-Makers' Level of Knowledge and Awareness About the Existence of Commercial or Open-Source Virtual Appliances
- “Has your organization deployed virtual appliances to replace or supplement functions provided by hardware appliances?”
- Level of IT Understanding About Virtualization for Various Systems
- Level of Understanding for Virtualization Among Non-IT Decision Makers
- Importance of Messaging Virtualization as Part of an Overall Move to Virtualization
- Views About Deploying Virtualization in the DMZ
- Percentage of Email Servers Running as Virtual Servers, 2008-2010
- Percentage of Anti-Virus and Anti-Spam Servers Running as Virtual Servers, 2008-2010
- Percentage of Content Filtering/DLP Servers Running as Virtual Servers, 2008-2010
- Percentage of Mobility Servers Running as Virtual Servers, 2008-2010
- Percentage of Storage Systems Running as Virtual Storage, 2008-2010
- Percentage of Client Systems Running Virtualization Software, 2008-2010
List of Tables
- Penetration of Virtualization in Various Applications, 2008-2010
- Distribution of End Users by Messaging Platform
- Messaging Problems Experienced
- Applications for Which Virtualization is Being Considered
- Drivers for Considering or Deploying Virtualization
- Ratings for Vendors of Virtualization Technology
- Roles in the Virtualization Evaluation and Approval Process
