Hype Cycle for Cloud Computing , 2010

ion enables better flexibility in how different parts of an IT stack are delivered, thus enabling better efficiency (through consolidation or variable usage) and mobility (shifting which resources are used behind the abstraction interface), and even alternative sourcing (shifting the service provider behind the abstraction interface, such as in cloud computing). A key to virtualization is being able to effectively describe what is required from the resource in a relatively independent and standardized manner, or having an interface that converts requests into a “portable” and abstracted form. In essence, cloud computing is all about abstracting service implementation away from the consumers of the services by using service-based interfaces (in other words, the interface for cloud-computing services is all about virtualization – an abstraction interface). But, to a provider, virtualization creates the flexibility to deliver resources to meet service needs in a very flexible, elastic, rapidly changing manner. The tools that make that happen could be virtual machines, virtual LANs (VLANs), or grid/ parallel programming. Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Virtualization is not simply one technology, rather it is many technologies that are all evolving at different rates. Virtual machines for servers, for example, were introduced on the mainframe more than 30 years ago. However, virtual machines for x86 architecture servers were first introduced in 2001, and, today, are used for less than 25% of all x86 architecture workloads. x86 architecture server virtualization is being rapidly adopted, however, and is expected to be used by half of all workloads by 2012. Storage virtualization is relatively mature within storage vendor offerings, originally in homogeneous forms only, but with a growing number of heterogeneous offerings. Networking is extremely mature in terms of virtualization. There are many different forms of virtualization, and the challenge is in choosing which form of virtualization to use. For example, server virtualization tools tend to dictate how storage and networking will be virtualized. Abstracting a resource usually means commoditizing it, so vendors will not promote an abstraction technology that hides their differentiation, and thus will promote their own virtualization technologies. There are many technologies and many competing solutions, and not all the technologies are mature as of yet. User Advice: The virtualization trend has caused huge turmoil with vendors, threatening commoditization status and removing the vendor’s ability to differentiate and influence buyers. Vendors are focusing on competing for ownership of the virtualization layers, and the management/automation tools that work with those virtualization layers. Be cautious about vendors that promote one technology to virtualize everything. Different technologies will be appropriate for different situations. Be cautious about vendors that promote one technology to manage everything. In the end, architectures will include many different virtualization layers, with many different management mechanisms. Effective tools will work with those different management mechanisms, rather than replace them. Virtualization is about much more than simply technology architecture. Virtualization causes cultural and political change. Virtualization projects, therefore, need strong executive support to drive those changes. Finally, virtualization requires processes and management tools to fundamentally change. Processes need to account for speed, agility and granularity – all of which are very different in virtualized environments. At the highest level, management tools need to shift from managing vertical, tightly integrated silos into managing horizontal resource pools to meet service needs. Virtualization projects that don’t have effective management strategies will fail. Business Impact: Virtualization makes it easier for IT to deliver faster, to have a lower barrier to entry and to deliver only exactly what is needed – no more and no less. This puts more pressure on the user to use IT efficiently, and to make good business decisions about the use of IT. As an IT catalyst, virtualization can help a business adjust to changing market trends much faster than before, transforming the business and its use of IT. However, a lubricant used badly can also cause a business to “slip and fall.” Virtualization forces enterprises to deal with IT like any other business unit – not simply as a cost center, but as an investment. Businesses will need to adjust to leverage the speed and granularity that virtualization provides (for example, virtual machines can be deployed roughly 30 times faster than physical servers). That includes making good decisions about how many resources to ask for, and taking advantage of speed to deploy IT-based solutions much faster to meet the business’s needs. Part of an effective virtualization deployment requires shifting to usage-based costing and chargeback to treat this more-fluid IT resource as any other business. Benefit Rating: Transformational Market Penetration: 20% to 50% of target audience Maturity: Early mainstream Sample Vendors: Cisco; Citrix Systems; EMC; HP; IBM; Microsoft; NetApp; Oracle; VMware