The Rise of Virtualization Demands Greater Data Security

In recent years, many enterprises have turned toward virtualization technology to reduce their overhead costs and operate a more centralized and efficient system. According to a report issued by IDC, virtualization was one of the few bright spots for the global software market in 2012, CloudTimes reported. Last year, sales of cloud-based virtual machines rose more than 17 percent. With the increased adoption of virtual machines, system administrators will be faced with additional data security concerns.

Recent reports suggested that IT departments are investing more of their funding into virtualization technology. According to a survey published by InformationWeek, virtualization was identified as a high priority by many respondents. In fact, 47 percent of the survey's participating IT personnel said their organization planned to increase server virtualization in 2013. Furthermore, 20 percent reported that upgrading their virtual machine systems was a top-two priority for their IT departments in the coming year.

The cost benefits of virtualization
One of the primary motivating factors for the pursuit of virtualization appears to be its potential to reduce operational expenses. Although 49 percent expected their virtualization projects to increase expenses in the short term, many planned to recoup those costs and more by requiring fewer hardware investments and reducing operating expenditures.

Data security remains a major priority
The report also found that IT personnel were placing a great deal of emphasis on improving their enterprises' data security solutions. Improving security was cited as the most important priority by participating IT members. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said that upgrading security was on their list of projects to complete in 2013. In addition, 35 percent cited these initiatives as one of two top IT goals in that timeframe. Although the study's researchers found that some C-suite executives were wary of investing in security upgrades because the financial benefits were not immediately clear, ultimately, 39 percent of the respondents who planned to implement such measures reported expectations of reduced enterprise expenses over the long term. Data security solutions can produce savings in ways that may not be immediately apparent to executives. For instance, some organizations may be subject to industry or government regulations mandating certain data security provisions be implemented or face stiff financial penalties.

One of the ways that companies can improve their virtualization processes is with a robust VM compression and encryption package. In addition to reducing VM storage costs through compression, businesses can secure their virtual environments from the threat of malware by deploying comprehensive encryption measures.