2012 Prediction: Acronis

We believe that in 2012 small to medium sized companies will stop talking about it and actually start to virtualize their IT infrastructure. Its potential to help companies get the most out of their existing server and storage infrastructure means it will continue to be at the forefront of the IT debate.

However, 2012 could also be a year of conflicts and collaborations within organizations. As virtualization becomes common practice, some key questions surface, who owns the virtual data and therefore, who is responsible for backup & recovery? As the use of virtual servers for business-critical applications grows, data protection will become a big issue.

2012 is the year administrators from all sized organizations need to accept that the hybrid world is here to stay. The utopian 100% virtual network will remain a dream. Even the most forward-thinking SMBs will be hard-pressed to top a 90% virtualization rate. The fact is that hybrid environments will continue to flourish and we will see a shift to more vendors developing multi-hypervisor and multi-environment solutions. Companies need to make sure they have one backup and DR solution to protect their hybrid world.

Finally and by no means least, 2012 will be the year we expect Microsoft Hyper-V will wow the SMB audience and grow its virtualization customer numbers. The cost, its new features and its SMB market share make this possible. Microsoft and its partners are looking to capture this space, representing a great opportunity for the channel.