EMC outlines plans for enterprise virtualisation

Pat Gelsinger: The virtual world will be more secure than the physical has ever been

EMC World 2010: Pat Gelsinger, president and chief operating officer of EMC information infrastructure products, has fleshed out his company's plans for enterprise virtualisation.

Gelsinger said that EMC will introduce three gradual approaches to enterprise virtualisation, ranging from routine IT applications to a completely virtualised IT infrastructure.

EMC sees companies following a pattern of gradual adoption for virtualisation platforms, beginning with what Gelsinger described as the basic IT maintenance tools that end users rarely monitor.

From there, companies tend to virtualise everyday mission-critical applications, a field that EMC will target with products such as its new VPlex appliances.

Finally, organisations will look to virtualise their entire IT infrastructures through a private cloud deployment.

Gelsinger likened the situation to people buying components for home electronics at stores such as Radio Shack.

"Every time you go in, there's always some little gadget you want and they have it," he said.

Gelsinger is convinced that a major shift to virtualisation is underway. EMC cited studies estimating that businesses spend as much as 70 per cent of their IT budget on maintenance, which could be dramatically reduced through virtualisation.

Additionally, Gelsinger argued that the tight management and uniformity of virtualised systems will offer better security.

"The virtual world will be more secure than the physical has ever been," he said. "We now have a much better vehicle to deliver finer grade policy control. "