Software can be sold as a virtual appliance with its own OS to run as a virtual machine on your existing server or VMware using cloud computing. Is this the future? The benefits: flexibility and maintenance for software delivery. But many don’t support virtualization platforms….yet. Oracle’s virtualization technology goes hand in hand with support for their apps. In fact, Oracle has announced that its virtualization software will support both Oracle and non-Oracle applications. They are one of the ones ahead of the curve. SAP and Microsoft have both announced that they are joining the virtual world.
Virtualization will also mean that more time will need to be spent managing software assets and licensing. Because, you better believe that the software vendors will be watching. Compliance will be the name of the game and if you’re not in compliance, you’ll find that you cannot “pass go.” So, managing your software license and assets will be of key importance as more software companies and CIOs decide virtualization is the key to the promise land.