SINGAPORE -- IT services giant HP is expecting virtualization to have major impact in Asia Pacific as more companies move toward streamlining their IT infrastructure amid globalization.

Companies in the financial, utilities, manufacturing, government, education and telecommunications sectors could have potential interest in virtualization as their IT infrastructures can become more complex as demand grows.

Executives from HP said that virtualization remains an unfamiliar term for most businesses across Asia Pacific since these companies are still building up their infrastructure and have not yet experienced the necessity to adapt virtualization solutions.

"That could change in the coming years as these Asian companies replace legacy systems with new ones, or until they realize that they can still operate their business with only a small percentage of their original infrastructure," according to HP Asia Pacific Enterprise
Storage and Servers Vice President Tony Parkinson.

Virtualization is broadly termed but its main feature is software emulating hardware components from one computer to run multiple applications. The emulated applications are "virtual" but they still have nearly the same level of performance as resident software in another machine.

A virtualized environment saves on operational costs while maximizing hardware performance.

Parkinson said many companies in Asian countries are not yet looking at virtualizing their infrastructure simply because they have not fully maximized their hardware infrastructure, though changing needs of their customers, as well as economic demands for those that are growing their offshore business, will eventually push them to see
whether virtualization would work for them.

"There are different factors for companies to consider virtualizing, such as consolidation of multiple hardware infrastructures, remote disaster recovery, improved manageability and -- most important -- customer satisfaction," Parkinson said.

For a company to consider this, its main consideration should have not just genuine interest in virtualization but to focus on how their business should operate. IDC Asia Pacific Storage and Software Research Group Vice President Avneesh Saxena stressed that companies should not look at virtualization to solve their common problems but
rather to look at it as a means of improving their operations.

"Companies must set clear business goals and create roadmaps. Then, they can decide on what kind of approach they can do with regard to their infrastructure," Saxena said.

HP Asia Pacific Software Head of Marketing Darryl Dickens said companies in countries like the Philippines have yet to realize the potential of virtualization and may take more time to educate them about this technology.

In the case of the Philippines, Dickens said that the IT industry is in its growth phase. Companies there will have to build their IT infrastructure first and also establish a pool of skilled workers. By the time Filipino companies have reached a level of maturity as well
as found new business challenges, it would be time to adapt to new IT solutions.

In which case, Dickens said that the country can just "leapfrog" by implementing virtualization solutions in already-growing industries, particularly the area of business process outsourcing, where he said growth is fastest.