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The survey, conducted by email research specialists, emedia indicates that over half (52%) of respondents are worried virtualisation introduces new security challenges.

The security concerns amongst those mentioned by the 278 senior UK IT directors, managers and system engineers include consideration for patching and update (32%), guest-to-guest attacks (27%) and the addition of new host software (22%).

However, those security

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fears appear to dissipate slightly once a company has started using virtualisation. The research shows that 51 % of current users think that it poses new risks, rising to 57% amongst those planning to use the new solution within the next six months and 66% amongst those adopting it within the next six to 18 months.

"The advantages of virtualisation appear to be tantalising but it seems that IT managers approach it with caution," says David Clark, emedia managing director.

Obstacles to adoption

But system vulnerability does not seem to be the main hurdle for non-adopters at that stage. Obstacles for non-users include the lack of a compelling business case for total cost of ownership and return on investment, priority given to other network upgrade projects, cost/budget constraints, insufficient staff expertise and, least of all, security.

IT professionals believe they can overcome these threats by taking various safety measures such as staff training and improving understanding, patching, and updating and 'hardening' servers.