The allure of virtualization is clear. For the business, it means faster time to market for new technology enabled services and a strong foundation for new strategic initiatives, such as green technology and cloud computing. For technology organizations, virtualization promises faster server provisioning, increased hardware utilization, and lower costs for disaster recovery (DR). But there is a catch— organizations with multiple years of virtualization experience have found that initial gains from virtualization have led to cost increases elsewhere in the longer run. Here is why—virtualized environments are a great deal more complex and mobile than their physical counterparts. When these factors are not taken into account, it becomes much harder to discover, provision, monitor, manage, and enforce compliance in virtual environments.

To realize the full potential of virtualization and gain better business outcomes, organizations must take a broader, service-centric approach to virtualization. This top-down approach delivers real value from virtualization from the business perspective. Virtualization's true potential can only be realized this way, as opposed to an approach where costs are shifted from one technology area to the next.