ESG’s 2010 IT spending intentions data shows that increased use of server virtualization is at the top of the IT priority list. Drilling into the data further indicates that further consolidation and expansion of the number of application running on virtual machines is where IT will be focused this year. A critical part of this acceleration requires building confidence with application and line of business owners. IT operations also wants to maintain a high level of efficiency and further improve consolidation. As a result, the server, storage, and networking teams have to work together to re-architect infrastructure with virtualization in mind. The same quality of service and access to resources that have been available in the physical world have to be available  in the virtual world.

F5 recently announced the availability of a free trial version of its new virtual appliance, the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Virtual Edition (VE). Now the value that F5 is providing in the physical world can translate into the virtual world. IT operations can work with application owners and build confidence in migrating mission critical and business critical applications to the virtual platform.

Looking Ahead: Virtualization (at all tiers) is a key component of data center design, thus the driving force to deliver software-only versions (virtual appliance) of what is available in the physical environment. Virtual appliances streamline test and POC, are a valuable delivery vehicle for an ISV, and quickly enable IT operations to build further value.

Also consider what happens when IT starts to leverage third party capacity (compute, storage, and network). The applications still require the same levels of availability, guaranteed service, and performance. As technology improvements federate across data centers (owned or leased), the virtual appliance is an ideal way to maintain the same architecture that was originally designed in deployed. Wow! I said all that and didn’t even use the word “cloud”

Related posts:

1. IT Ops -vs- Application Owner
2. EMC Acquires FastScale – How will VMware Leverage the Acquisition?
3. Virsto Extends Value of Virtualization into Storage
4. Apple iPhone 3G as an End Point Virtualization Platform
5. Server Virtualization: The IT Holding Pattern

Tags: cloud computing, F5, LTM, server virtualization