Survey finds 38% of Organisations have already Gone Virtual

Results reveal flexibility, cost and availability are key motivating factors for adopting virtualised infrastructures

Worcester, UK. – 2nd September 2008 – Double-Take Software announced the results of a survey that it ran in collaboration with the organisers of Storage Expo 2008, the UK’s definitive event for data storage, information and content management, which takes place in London on 15th and 16th October. Key findings include overwhelming interest in virtualisation, with 38% of respondents having already virtualised their production infrastructure and 52% having plans to do so. Increased infrastructure flexibility was cited as the main benefit of adopting virtualisation (48%), followed by cost reduction (21%). However, beyond these core factors, improved disaster recovery is widely considered a key additional benefit of virtualisation, with 82% stating that it is a significant feature.

“Natalie Booth, event manager for Storage Expo 2008, commented, “Virtualisation has seen dramatic adoption rates in recent years. From our discussions with CIOs and analysts we expect this trend to accelerate. We have included a series of seminars on virtualisation in the education programme of Storage Expo 2008 to help organisations explore its benefits. In the keynote on Improving Asset Utilisation with Virtualisation, John Abbott, Chief Analyst from The 451 Group will lead a panel of speakers from Oxford University, Wellcome Trust; British Horse Racing Authority and Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation trust. Other virtualisation presentations include ‘Storage Virtualisation, does it meet today's business needs?’ and ‘How to help you reduce spend by 50% on Storage for Virtualised Servers.”

Ian Masters, UK sales and marketing director at Double-Take Software, said, “We could have predicted that reduced costs would appear as a major factor in the adoption of virtualised infrastructures. However, the high interest expressed in the flexibility of virtualised infrastructures was less predictable and is very significant. It demonstrates that organisations are unhappy with the constraints native to traditional physical infrastructures and are actively seeking ways that can make the management of their infrastructure more fluid and open to innovation.”

“Although, 82% of respondents believe that improved disaster recovery is a key additional benefit of virtualisation, Double-Take Software maintains that it is not an automatic by-product. All instances of virtualised systems rely on the physical hardware on which shared data is stored. If physical systems are not adequately protected and fail, then virtualised systems will also fail. Data replication technology from Double-Take Software ensures that any virtualised infrastructure, or mixed environment, is comprehensively protected and also provides organisations with further flexibility, allowing them to dynamically manage their virtualised infrastructure.”

Double-Take business continuity deployment allows businesses to move IT systems anytime, anywhere, for whatever purpose, without interfering with ongoing operations. Double-Take copies data in real time from one server, or one site, to another to create a complete duplicate on a live backup system to provide very high levels of data protection and availability. Combining Double-Take with virtualisation provides the ability to protect and dynamically manage the entire infrastructure. Whether recovering from a disaster, simplifying routine server maintenance or migrating whole data centres, Double-Take creates a dynamic infrastructure that ensures effective business continuity planning as well as allowing data centre managers to innovate in how they manage their entire infrastructure.

The survey polled 59 UK IT and business professionals with an interest in storage issues from across industry sectors and was conducted by Storage Expo, which takes place at Olympia, London, 15 & 16th October, www.storage-expo.com.

Double-Take® Software is a leading provider of affordable software for recoverability, including continuous data replication, application availability and system state protection. Double-Take Software products and services enable customers to protect and recover business-critical data and applications such as Microsoft Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint in both physical and virtual environments. With its unparalleled partner programs, technical support, and professional services, Double-Take Software is the solution of choice for more than ten thousand customers worldwide, from SMEs to the Fortune 500. Information about Double-Take Software's products and services can be found at www.doubletake.com.

© Double-Take Software.

Source: StoragePR
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