The increasing popularity of server virtualization is changing the management of data centres "forever", according to an expert.
Michelle Bailey, research vice-president of data centre trends at IDC, made the comment after the intelligence body revealed 16.5 per cent of all new servers shipped in the second quarter of 2009 were virtualized.
This equated to a rise of 14.5 per cent from 12 months ago, while the use of paid virtualization software had also increased significantly over the period.
Discussing the figures, Ms Bailey said: "'Virtualization First' is now the default approach for new server deployments at most enterprise IT organizations and is quickly becoming the foundational platform for cloud computing initiatives among service providers."
She added that the "next phase" of virtualization will see businesses reinvent IT policies, procedures and automation tools.
Middlesex University recently announced that it has agreed a deal with IBM which will the latter provide virtualisation technology to the higher education institution.