"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers" is a famous misquote of Thomas J. Watson. The same Tom Watson, who took Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation and turned into what is today known as IBM. In essence, whoever said that the world will only need 5 computers wasn't totally wrong. Virtualization was first implemented in 1960 to aid better utilization of large mainframe hardware. 50 years later, it has grown to be part of all Fortune 100 success stories.

Lately, "fake servers" became a slightly satiric way to say "virtual servers". Why? Mainly because they are gaining a larger market share. Large enterprises were quick to adopt the virtual machines approach, while small business started late. However, by year-end 2010, enterprises with 100 to 999 employees will have a higher penetration of virtual machines deployed than the Global 500. For long years, small businesses could not afford even the entry level products, and this is what changed lately. Increased competition by server vendors has made server virtualization technology affordable to smaller companies.

Server virtualization is growing faster among smaller firms and it is only normal, having in mind that large corporations and international companies have been using the technology for over two decades. Smaller businesses are a developing niche. The current installed base of physical servers, across all architectures, is reckoned to be somewhere around 30 million machines. With server virtualization spearheading through server trade it is expected the overall spread of virtual and logical machines will reach nearly 60 million in only 3 years time.