Virtualisation looks set to enjoy a continuing wave of adoptions in the upcoming year, and commentators have said the technology's popularity is largely due to its reputation for being cost-effective, which falls directly in line with many corporate IT spending strategies.

New technologies transforming traditional IT systems have been described by experts as 'disruptive' - but in a positive way.

"The business needs disruption, and the disruptive technologies exist to really change our financial model and our cost structure in a way that for once, is actually consistent with what the business wants - which is more wood behind the arrow and less wood focused on operations," according to Mark McDonald, group vice president for executive programs at Gartner.

McDonald maintained that virtualisation will have a similar impact as previous leaps in technology, such as the development of physical servers themselves, which will afford businesses unique opportunities for the future.

"We have not had this opportunity to redefine who we are, and what our role is in the enterprise, since we moved from mainframe to client server," he said.

Experts from around the market have forecasted an increase of IT spending in 2011, fuelled by adoptions of virtualisation and related technologies, piggybacking on increases throughout 2010.

"Overall growth is still lagging behind pre-recession levels, but the recovery of 2010 will broadly continue and the industry will ultimately outpace the rest of the economy," according to research firm IDC, which predicted a 5.7 per cent increase in spending for the year.

Written by Jason Morton

Virtualisation falls in line with corporate financial models