While server virtualization increases operational efficiencies and management flexibility, and reduces total cost of ownership, it can also increase security risks. According to Gartner, 60% of virtual machines (VM) will be less secure than their physical counterparts through 2009. The security challenges include: * IP address dependency: In a virtualized environment, IP addresses often change as VMs are created, retired or migrated from one physical host to another, causing problems in traditional protection mechanisms.

There's no way to avoid it: The total cost of ownership (TCO) for data centers gives every owner a case of sticker shock. Not only is the capital expense (CAPEX) -- or the cost to design, build, test and commission -- increasing, but the inevitable operating expense (OPEX) increases on the horizon are daunting. Knowledgeable users have forecasted that the OPEX will exceed the CAPEX. Syska believes the following are the basic principles of reducing TCO and constitute best practices: 1. Spread redundancy across multiple, lower-tier data centers

Security recommendations change depending on whether they deal with a server or an appliance. How does that mesh with a virtual infrastructure in which both ESX and ESXi play almost identical roles and have similar vulnerabilities?

As enterprises virtualize their data centers to cut costs and consolidate their servers, they may be setting themselves up for big trouble. According to the latest disaster recovery research report from Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC), based on surveys of 1,000 IT managers in large organizations worldwide, 35 percent of an organization's virtual servers are not included in its disaster recovery (DR) plans.

As VMworld 2008 approaches, the virtualization industry faces a time of change as Microsoft, Citrix and Virtual Iron continue to step up VMware's competition. VMware made some significant announcements at VMworld Europe 2008 -- namely, the VMsafe application programming interfaces (APIs) and improvements in VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) via support for offline usage and thin clones. This year's VMworld will be held at the Venetian in Las Vegas from Sept. 15 through 18 – just a few short weeks away. What will VMware unveil?

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/caf00c/virtual_servers_pl) has announced the addition of the "Virtual Servers Planning Goals: Take a Baby Bear Approach" report to their offering.

The new version of Citrix Systems' XenApp now supports Windows Server 2008. Additional upgrades include better performance, a new user interface and preferential load balancing to prioritize applications.