By now we are all very familiar with the Virtualization numbers:

• 80% of new servers installed by 2012 will be virtualized
• 60% improvement to your systems utilization rate
• 82% reduction in server energy consumption from virtualization

Virtualizing your data center is a no brainer right? So, what are you waiting for?

Hold on one second before you jump into that ice cold water... Are you familiar with this number:

59?

According to Network Instruments study, 59 represents the percentage of "IT organizations who lack the experience to manage virtualized environments effectively"... It is one thing to recognize a trend and get caught up in the hype surrounding the IT savings associated with virtualization. However,  it is quite different to actually put it into practice within your own data center environment, and ensure success. Consider this, you may only have one chance to implement virtualization correctly. Line of business owners will be skeptical. They will probably share their concern that by virtualizing the IT environment their mission critical application will suffer. Your business cannot skip a beat when you are virtualized. But how do you do it correctly? To ensure success and achieve operational excellence in your physical and virtualized environment there are many questions that need to be answered and your IT staff needs a partner that can help you develop a well devised virtualization management strategy that will help you ensure agility, quality, efficiency and mitigation of IT and business risk.

You need a partner that can manage both your physical and virtual systems environment seamlessly giving you that single pane of glass for operational visibility and control. Fewer tools that are tightly integrated is one key ingredient to operational excellence. However, it goes beyond just managing both physical and virtual systems, Achieving operational excellence requires a comprehensive IT service assurance and automation solution, but, it also must include application performance management and the capability to manage your environment as a business service, not just device management. Important capabilities you should look for must include;

Proactive performance management across your IT domains - systems, networks, databases, and applications,

• Model-based root cause analysis
• Strong application performance management capabilities
• Strong automation solutions that are integrated with the IT management suite
• A business service model approach with executive dashboards indicating the health of your services
• And the knowledge and experience to help you implement a virtualized environment to ensuring success

Don't jump into the water too soon. Prepare yourself for success and partner with the right IT management vendor.