In virtualization today, there are key trends and players that are deeply impacting the direction in which the space is evolving. VMware has been the undeniable leader in the virtualization space up until now. However, the buzz now surrounds other service providers that are playing a significant role in shaping the virtualization space. Because IT professionals need to look at all of their technology options to make informed decisions, here we will identify virtualization’s key trends and players as 2014 kicks off.

The virtualization landscape today

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Virtualization today is less about VMware and more about the cloud. And the last five or so years have been about bringing virtualization management to the cloud, according to Dave Vellante, Chief Analyst at Wikibon. Amazon announced Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2006 but no one took cloud seriously then. Now, in 2014, everyone is taking it seriously, according to Vellante. Google, Microsoft and even VMware, for example, are all better positioning themselves—plus former hosting providers are shifting to this space, he said. Gaining on VMware—and having a noticeable influence in shaping the virtualization space today—are vendors such as Citrix, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Rackspace, AWS, Google and, increasingly, the open-source initiative OpenStack. And today there are virtualization user groups that help members learn about the best technology options available. VTUG (The Virtualization Technology Users Group) is one such group—which touts itself as being the only platform-independent virtualization user group. On January 16, 2014, they helped their members learn more about their options during their 7th Annual VTUG Winter Warmer 2014 event, which focused on virtualization for its 1,500 or so attendees this year.

Key virtualization thought leaders

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As cohosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile studio, Wikibon Chief Analyst Vellante and Wikibon Principal Analyst Stu Miniman interviewed virtualization thought leaders at VTUG’s Winter Warmer event. (Check out the archives on YouTube.) VTUG Winter Warmer 2014 keynote speakers they interviewed included Brad Anderson, Corporate VP of Windows Server & System Center at Microsoft; Tony Asaro, founder and CEO of The INI Group; Simone Brunozzi, Senior Technology Evangelist at Amazon Web Services; Cody Bunch, Principal Architect, Private Cloud at Rackspace; Chris Colotti, Senior Product Line Technical Marketing Manager at VMware; and Chris Harney, VTUG founder and President.

Today’s key virtualization trends

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Trends that the keynote speakers and attendees discussed during the one-day VTUG event mirror what’s on everyone’s mind in the virtualization space today—trends like cloud, hybrid cloud, multi-hypervisor, converged infrastructure, flash storage and software-defined. IT practitioners at the event included “hard-core VMware, hyper-V, Citrix, Zen practitioners, KVM; a lot of cloud service action going on,” Vellante commented in one segment of theCUBE. He added that VTUG this year had evolved the event beyond VMware, into the whole realm of hyper-visor. “When I was here [at VTUG] two or three years ago, it was all VMware, all the time; a very deep dive into VMware,” Vellante noted. “It was not the main theme here at this event [this year]. A lot of cloud discussion. We’ve been talking a lot about converged infrastructure, and…data center transformation in general.”

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OpenStack gaining in popularity

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A major trending topic at VTUG’s event was OpenStack. “OpenStack is obtaining major momentum in the developer community and, with support from the likes of Dell, HP, IBM and Rackspace, it now has staying power,” wrote siliconANGLE’s Greg Stewart in his wrap-up of the event. However, there’s one remaining question on virtualization thought leaders’ minds: Who will become the leader of OpenStack? One opinion gaining traction right now is that the leader must come from within the community. “Having HP and IBM backing OpenStack to the degree that they are is excellent; however, these players can’t be the leaders,” Vellante said. “If one of them chooses to do so, the rest will back off. [So] the leader must emerge from the community. Will this take a little longer than if one company decided to be the leader? Yes. However, the foundation will be stronger.”