I have written about virtualization before here, but I would like to take the discussion one step up. All hardware and software manufacturers treat virtualization as if it is the latest religion in IT land - if you don't get it, you are not a serious player. Trends, I call it. Why ? Well, I would like to pose another question : Why virtualization ? I can't answer it. And headstrong as I am, I refuse to belive that this is the future. In fact, hardware specs are rising so fast, I think you can run an average production environment you used to run on a Unix server on a handheld or pda today. Therefore, all the benefits of virtualization are in cold water. As the prices of hardware drop faster than the performance increases, I can only conclude that virtualization is the latest trend in IT, and will fade away as *real* hardware will become cheaper than virtual. You know, it is all about money.

E-Commerce News has another opinion:

Virtualization holds an important place in corporate IT. It is a technology that only is beginning to be utilized, one with real potential to drive down the cost of IT.

What do you think ? Is virtualization only a trend ? Let me know in the comments.