Linux-centric organizations have implemented virtualization in higher numbers, more extensively, and are gaining greater benefit from virtualization technology than Windows-centric customers, according to the results of a new Gabriel Consulting Group white paper.
The white paper looks at how respondents to Gabriel Consulting Group's 2008 x86 Vendor Preference Survey are adopting x86 virtualization technology. Almost every customer in the survey of 187 real-world x86 data center personnel had some form of both operating systems in their data centers, but significant numbers of customers had decided to standardize on one or the other.
According to key findings cited in the white paper, customers who rely heavily on Linux over Windows are using x86 virtualization at an almost 30% higher rate of 77% versus 60%. Also, more than 40% of heavy Linux users have virtualized greater than half of their x86 systems, as compared with only 29% of heavy Microsoft users who have reached this level of virtualization implementation.
Virtualization presents benefits in terms of consolidation initiatives, which result in reduced floor space needs and electrical consumption for data centers, and this is another area in which strongly Linux focused shops appear to be ahead than their Microsoft-centric counterparts, according to the paper. Among the survey respondents, almost 60% of Linux users reported no problems with data center power requirements while only 38% of Microsoft users said that is the case.
The Linux operating system and development model presents natural advantages when it comes to virtualization, the white paper notes. Since Linux is open source and free, it allows developers a view into the code so that they can more easily design virtualization mechanisms to maximize performance and availability.
Get the white paper here.