In our customer discussions with IT and business executives, one thing is ringing clear in 2009;   Virtualization is becoming a strategic investment, architecture, and underpinning (across multiple IT domains)  for the delivery of IT services.  While cost savings have traditionally dominated the decision to use virtualization, CIOs are telling us that, while important, cost is becoming a secondary factor.  The decision to use virtualization as a “Strategic Managed Architecture” (SMA) has emerged.   In fact, most CIOs believe their SMA success hinges on best in class management, integrated with the physical management investments.   We believe that a trend evolution is upon IT whereby C-level aspirations can no longer be met with virtualization in stand-alone tactical deployments;   the business impact and efficiency expectations have outpaced silo deployments.  Virtualization deployments have been so successful in reducing costs, that C-level executives now expect more from it, notably from the business impact perspective.   That notion provides the need to invest in integrated, automated management, standardized processes, best practices, and talent development.     To deliver virtualization as a Strategic Managed Architecture, we advise IT and business executives to:

• Focus on Role based interfaces and reporting.   Virtualization abstracts much of the key data required for end to end IT service visibility and management; it also places more pressure on the administrators and system managers to maintain a complaint infrastructure. 
• Consider policy based management.  CIOs should recognize the compression of element management functionality from  products such as Cisco’s  1000v  are the first signs of the opportunity to drive element level, policy management across server, storage, and network infrastructure.
• Evaluate and buy management solutions that will scale.  Key technologies that enable fast scaling of virtualization include models-based management, granular performance roll-up, compliance assurance, and process automation between physical and virtual environments. 
• Encapsulate standardized processes.  Increasingly the virtualization architecture will enable ITIL and related processes to be codified and standardized in hardware platforms raising the need to execute service and policy aggregation across IT silos.   

The forces outlined above require attention from senior IT and business leaders as they offer some of the most advanced business and IT alignment opportunities over the past decade.  This emerging architecture is driving the need for new management requirements, and a new way at delivering cost savings and business outcomes via technology.   However, the discussion goes well beyond technology;  people, and processes will enable critical alignment between business processes and IT investment in real time necessitating the need for physical and virtual granular and service-oriented policy management.  The bottom line is that with the wrong management technology, the business value of virtualization can’t be fully met leading to lost opportunities and limited business outcomes.

To learn more about how to achieve Lean IT with new CA solutions visit:  www.ca.com/LeanIT