By Alastair Cooke
Publication Date: 2026-02-27 00:00:00
Analyst(s): Alastair Cooke
Publication date: February 27, 2026
New research from HPE finds that only 5% of enterprises are fully prepared for the so-called Great Virtualization Reset, even as two-thirds plan major changes to their virtualization strategy within the next two years. The factors go far beyond licensing costs: AI readiness, hybrid cloud complexity, and operational risk take center stage. This indicates a brewing crisis in enterprise infrastructure planning, where most organizations are underestimating the execution risks and overestimating the quick benefits of a simple hypervisor change when implementing their virtualization strategy.
What is covered in this article:
- Why AI readiness, not just licensing costs, is forcing a review of virtualization strategy
- How operational complexity and skills gaps are holding back business transformation
- The Rise of Hybrid and Edge Models as Preferred Models and Their Implications for IT Teams
- Why security, observability and unified backup are…
