Virtualization used by 75 percent of businesses

Virtualization is proving popular in the enterprise, with three-quarters of businesses having already deployed or planning to deploy server virtualisation technologies over the next 12 months, according to a recent survey.

Of those companies going with virtualization, two-thirds are already using it or are in the process of migrating to it while one-fifth will deploy the technology in the next year.

Just 4 percent of respondents said they have no plans to use virtualization at all.

Reducing infrastructure costs is the main incentive and half of those who've already deployed virtualization techniques said they've reduced costs as a result of the move.

Other reasons for going virtual include ease of deploying applications, making better use of existing servers and the need to consolidate floor space.

VMWare's ESX and GSX are the most popular virtualization tools with 55 percent combined market share, followed by Microsoft's Virtual Server with nearly 30 percent.

A chunk of businesses are also looking to virtualization for storage -- 20 percent of survey respondents said their organisations are using storage virtualisation technology.

The research was conducted by Yankee Group and Sunbelt Software, a maker of Windows admin tools and enterprise security solutions, and consisted of interviews with 1,700 executives worldwide from both small and large enterprises.

Silicon.com's Sylvia Carr reported from London.