IT Research firm, IDC has released its worldwide system infrastructure software predictions for 2007. In its forecast, IDC has said that system infrastructure software is beginning to be strongly impacted by game-changing forces such as virtualization and adoption of ITIL, wherein enterprises are resorting to these methods to lower operational costs and increase corporate agility.

The firm defines system infrastructure software as the software that controls the operation and management of computing infrastructure resources. It includes operating systems, enterprise virtualization software, and enterprise systems management software.

IDC's top ten predictions for Infrastructure Software are:

1. The next wave in virtualization emerges, which IDC calls Virtualization 2.0. Users will focus on continuity, disaster recovery, and high availability.

2. Software appliances will become a household word in 2007. The convergence of virtual machine technology and a new initiative by several tool vendors is giving birth to this new form of software packaging.

3. The use of Linux paravirtualization will be mostly sizzle - not steak. Few users are going to substitute their current kernel with a paravirtualized kernel.

4. Management of virtual infrastructure takes center stage at large enterprises, extending adoption of virtualization across test, development, and production.

5. Virtualization and security will become stronger focal points for ITIL/ITSM vendors, who will do more to add support for virtualization and managing virtual environments to their service management offerings.

6. Major system management vendors will accelerate "productization" of ITIL best practices by incorporating functional software components with automated workflows that implement service delivery and service support processes.

7. Leading system management vendors will start putting a vertical focus to their ITIL marketing and product developments. These vertical segments will include Financial Services, Health Care, and Manufacturing.

8. There will be "growth separation" between software vendors that have made major acquisitions. Vendors must develop and execute sales and marketing strategies for combined entities that differentiate and clarify product offerings.
9. Microsoft's client operating system anti-piracy efforts will backfire. Microsoft's anti-piracy campaign will drive customers toward Linux.

10. Expectations remain consistent that Windows Vista in 2007 will not uplift the operating system or PC market spend dramatically, but a meaningful shift of adoption favoring premium Windows Vista SKUs is predicted.