The cost of running and maintaining enterprise IT systems has been a major headache for IT system managers and administrators. Izwan Ismail talks to Citrix Systems’ vice president at the recent Citrix Synergy 2008 conference in Houston, Texas, US, on how to grapple with this issue effectively.

Rose says despite the benefits of virtualisation, it is still in its infancy, adoption-wise.

THE high cost of maintaining an IT system is eating into the budgets of many enterprises. Increasing power consumption at data centres and inefficient usage of IT assets such as servers and desktops are the major culprits. A viable solution to this predicament is virtualisation.

Citrix Systems’ vice president Pacific Dennis Rose noted that about US$5 billion (RM16.5 billion) is currently being spent in the Asia-Pacific to power computers, over 65 per cent of which is spent on idle or under-utilised computers.

“Most general servers in the enterprise environment are only 30 per cent utilised, but virtualised servers are easily driven at 80 per cent or greater utilisation. This way, the enterprise can save on space, power and people,” he said.

Through virtualisation, not only can companies benefit in terms of cost savings, but also in conserving the environment.

In the case of desktop virtualisation, a concept where applications on the desktop are hosted from a central server, companies can expect double-digit cost savings of 40 to

60 per cent for desktop operations over a three-year period because office PCs can stay effective until six to eight years before the next change. And by consolidating or offloading server workloads in the data centre and reducing energy consumption of user devices in the office, companies will be able to “go green”.

But despite such benefits, virtualisation is still in its infancy, adoption-wise.

“The adoption rate is still low at just seven to nine per cent last year of all servers shipped globally,” Rose pointed out.

According to him, the challenge is in educating the market. “Everybody’s heard of virtualisation, but the reality is that people still think virtualisation is about servers. But today, there’s a number of virtualisation technology like application virtualisation, desktop virtualisation and storage virtualisation.”

Nevertheless, the market prospects for virtualisation solutions, especially in the Asia-Pacific, are promising.

According to research firm IDC, the worldwide market for virtualisation solutions is currently worth US$6.1 billion, with the Asia-Pacific constituting US$1.2 billion.

“Based on our gauge of the market, most mid-tier and enterprise companies are interested in desktop virtualisation. These are not just entities with mission-critical systems like banks, but also government agencies and business enterprises,” Rose said.