Virtualization and storage
A full 70% have ESX from VMware installed, but, by next year, 35% said they also will have Microsoft Hyper-V.
Other platforms used by respondents include Xen and KVM with more growth expected in the use of KVM, rather than Xen, in the next year.
Databases, file servers and custom apps, respectively, are the top three use cases, with engineering and ERP/CRM ranked lowest.
Databases, email and custom apps, respectively, top the list of use cases for physical servers. A 100% virtualized data center is the exception rather than rule.
Database performance and virtual machine response time top the list. Additional storage capacity came in third.
Consolidating database licenses and avoiding future purchases of storage hardware were listed as priorities by only 27% and 23% of respondents, respectively.
48% have recently upgraded or are planning to upgrade their storage devices in the next 12 months, and 30% said they need better performance but not additional capacity.
39% have either implemented a combination of flash and disk or anticipate doing so in the next 12 months. Less than 20% have similar plans for all flash-based storage arrays.
44% of respondents either have or are planning to implement server-side flash hardware in upcoming years while 43% are looking to use storage acceleration software, as well.
Virtual server administers crave infrastructure independence: 70% said they would buy server virtualization software that allows them to increase storage performance without purchasing more storage hardware.