The complete FOCUS Research Series on Virtualization Management includes the following Research components: 

· Key Findings Report (containing highlights of the survey findings)
· Complete User Survey Report (containing the complete survey results)
· Market Landscape Report (which includes features matrices comparing available virtualization management product offerings, based on features rated by users in the survey).

The Series covers products from the following vendors: Akorri, BlueStripe, BMC, CA, Catbird, CiRBA, Citrix, Double-Take, DynamicOps, Embotics, FalconStor, FastScale, Fortisphere, HP, Hyper9, IBM, Microsoft, Neptuny, NetApp, PlateSpin, Reflex Systems, Surgient, Symantec, Tek-Tools, Tripwire, Uptime Software, Vizioncore, VKernel, and VMware.

As organizations move the next phase of virtualization, in order to succeed, it becomes essential to optimize and automate their virtual environments. As they do so, they face a wide array of virtualization management challenges. The FOCUS Research Series: Managing the Virtual Environment includes a taxonomy of virtualization management which examines key management areas identified by FOCUS. These areas include Virtual Machine (VM) Life Cycle Management and Provisioning, Capacity Management, Performance Management, Fault Management and Root Cause Analysis, Storage Management and Data Protection, and Security Management. Each area brings a set of requirements that IT must consider in order to develop a well-managed virtual infrastructure. This research series shows where user priorities are across these management areas, as well as user ratings on required features within each area.

The results of the FOCUS survey show a wide variety of interesting trends and changes in the virtualization landscape. This FOCUS User Survey Report discusses the survey methodology used and the demographics of the sample population. It explains the current use of and drivers for virtualization technologies, along with the reasons why some users have not implemented virtualization. For those who have virtualization running in production environments, the report details how virtualization is being utilized and for what application workloads, plus what benefits companies have realized due to the implementation of virtualization. This report also covers what virtualization solutions are being utilized, what pain points and challenges came up as part of the implementation experience, what users are utilizing to manage the virtual infrastructure today, and what their priorities are going forward. Additionally, user purchasing patterns and priorities are discussed, ending with a FOCUS assessment of the survey results.

The FOCUS Landscape Report provides an overall look at virtualization management requirements as well as the current vendor landscape addressing these requirements. It describes the factors that are driving the need for virtualization management capabilities, and defines the virtualization management areas that are required in order to achieve the promise of a cost-effective, efficient, and responsive IT organization, and to give IT a language in which to communicate management needs to vendors.

The Landscape report discusses the different areas of management that should be considered and the associated capabilities available for virtualized infrastructures, and explains why management of the virtual infrastructure is different from traditional IT management. In-depth feature matrices are included, covering the primary solutions available in each management category to aid in comparing solution functionality and breadth. A discussion around considerations for purchasing solutions is included along with an “at-a-glance” vendor solution analysis. The report concludes with a FOCUS assessment of the overall virtualization management market.