Codestone

Category: Virtualisation

Companies are to have a much reduced need for hardware over the coming years, Gartner has predicted.

The technology research specialist noted that virtualisation platforms could lead to as many as 20 per cent of all businesses having no IT assets by 2012.

While the firm admitted that hardware requirements will never disappear, it suggested that there will be a shift in the needs of many organisations. 

"Enterprise IT budgets will either be shrunk or reallocated to more strategic projects," it stated, adding that staff qualified in these areas are likely to be freed up for other operations. 

According to Gartner, another noticeable trend will be the increased use of virtualised desktops, with a rise in the number of employees accessing corporate networks through notebooks and personal computers.

Similar sentiments were recently expressed by Lee Gomes and Taylor Buley while writing for Forbes.

The pair commented that the recent arrival of Windows 7 would usually require large-scale hardware upgrades, but desktop virtualisation may help "break that pattern".