Server virtualization provides an immediate reduction in hardware and configuration cost. But in focusing merely on the hardware side of virtualization, are we leaving money on the table?

 While organizations can reduce the number of boxes they need, and save the cost of replicating servers for virtual test beds, these servers are becoming commodities.

What if we could apply the benefits of virtualization where we spend 80 percent or more of the IT budget - in the key enterprise software that runs our business and in the extensive development, support and maintenance costs of these applications?

Today's leading businesses rely on a mix of distributed technologies and new functionality, such as service-oriented architecture (SOA). Virtualization can improve the quality and time-to-market for these systems. But how can teams virtualize to improve the quality and time-to-market of SOA functionality that does not necessarily reside under a centralized team's control? The extended organization must connect these two strategies by virtualizing the shared behaviors of services, thereby multiplying the value of SOA.

• Parallels CEO Speaking This Week at SYS-CON's 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo in Silicon Valley