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Time to get real about PC virtualisation

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Virtualisation

Michael Parsons ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 17 Aug 2004 13:30 BST

Assuming you play a double licensing fee, you could save 6 percent on TCO with a management host, and you get the management benefits of a standardised PC. Eradicating the cost of the additional licences becomes important. Microsoft is the big market decider; when they move everyone will follow. It's another nail in the current per instance licensing paradigm for desktop software. Other challenges are coming in terms of multi-core CPUs. We expect the approach to be extended over the next three years.

The current business model looks like it can't be sustained in the long run. Given the prospect of paying for two software licences most people will abstain. That's the closed loop.

How real is this today technically?
Functionally today, virtualisation can do everything we say. There are problems at the moment. The virtual machines look like apps which can confuse users. There are security issues, and virtual machines are kept as files in the host file systems, so you could delete the virtual machine. We think by 2005 this will be an attractive technology for bringing in those rogue IT users that IT departments are keen to get under control. It will take longer for them to roll out to everybody. It will be used to help people working from home, as a guest image of the work PC on the PC at home. Being applicable to everybody, we're thinking 2008 and 2009, we see mainstream migration to Longhorn, and we do believe that Microsoft will include a copy of virtualisation software with all volume licensing agreements.

You've also said it will help in outsourcing relationships?
It allows you to define the limits and boundaries of what the company who is working for you can see technically. It will be an important part of those IT support relationships - is the problem on the guest or the host system? It will assist the definition of service level agreements.