Why IT Leaders Are Deploying Virtualized Storage?

Aberdeen Group, Inc.‘s recent research report, Why are IT Leaders Deploying Virtualized Storage ($399), shows that companies that have deployed storage virtualization are gaining great operational and financial returns on their investment.

The report features research based on a survey of the virtualization practices of over 180 worldwide companies.

Aberdeen found that formal training and certification for virtual tool administrators, adding virtual I/O capabilities, and standardizing on one type of server were among the most important factors in gaining advantages from storage virtualization products.

Aberdeen’s research found:

• Five of the top six pressures cited by survey respondents on why they have deployed storage virtualization come from the continuing demand to provide more storage and computing capacity. Far and away the number one pressure, cited by 84% of responding organizations, was the increasing demand for more storage.
• Five of the top six benefits from deploying storage virtualization cited by respondents are operational, and not financial. Sixty-three percent (63%) reported that virtualization reduced the effort to manage their SANs.
• Companies with virtualized storage show a wider range of virtualization projects across the organization than those with no storage virtualization. They are more likely to have server virtualization (95% vs. 73% for those who have not virtualized their storage), purchase servers designed for virtualization (74% vs. 40%), have a converged network (49% vs. 15%), and have virtualized their desktops (35% vs. 18%).

"Companies that have deployed storage virtualization products are gaining great operational advantages," says Dick Csaplar, Senior Research Analyst and author of the study. "Forty-eight percent (48%) of those that have deployed storage virtualization report reducing the number of SAN devices in their infrastructure and 44% report a reduced time to deploy new applications and servers."