Predictions 2010: Client Virtualization

2009 was a banner year for corporate interest in client virtualization. However, adoption was mostly limited to heavily regulated industries such as government, healthcare, education, finance, and insurance, in which security, compliance, manageability, and business continuity drove deployments. According to Forrester's Q3 2009 survey of almost 2,000 IT decision-makers at North American and European enterprises and SMBs, three-quarters of firms now have client virtualization on their IT agenda for the next 12 months. Looking ahead, Forrester predicts broader, industrywide adoption in 2010 as IT managers increasingly view client virtualization as the future of the corporate PC. However, it's going to be a long and bumpy road as Windows 7 and support for Mac drive further exposure and adoption; firms find more clarity around the user segments that virtualization technically, legally, and cost efficiently can and cannot address; and the solutions mature but the vendor landscape continues to grow and fragment.