Most organizations struggle with the challenges of application and product development and delivery. Lifecycle virtualization fundamentally transforms the lifecycle and eliminates many of the common challenges faced by development and test teams. The stunning success of server virtualization technology in limiting server sprawl, reducing energy consumption, and lowering capital expenditures (CAPEX) raises the question—what can we virtualize next? The answer is almost anything and everything—especially in the lifecycle. Lifecycle virtualization and its associated technologies assist development, test, and operations teams in cutting the Gordian Knot of schedule, cost, and quality.

Virtualization is poised to become the defining technology of the 21st century. Virtual lab automation, a new use for virtualization in the application development and quality assurance organizations has made inroads to the pre-deployment side of the application lifecycle equation. In this Market SnapshotTM, we will examine the organization and its metamorphosis as virtual lab automation becomes more pervasive. We will also define the value and benefits of Virtual lab automation.