With VMware Inc. shares up more than 21% from its stunning initial public offering earlier this month, it's clear that the company has sustained investor interest in its virtualization technology, which lets companies run all their operations on fewer servers and dramatically reduces IT complexity.

But amid so much enthusiasm, it's always good to have a voice of reason. This story in PC World notes that while virtualization software reduces physical complexity, it may give rise to virtual complexity. "Though businesses can virtualize servers and in so doing reduce their infrastructure costs, complexity takes on a virtual component as well," the story notes.

"Unfortunately, the amount of data each virtual server needs to backup has not necessarily diminished, only its available bandwidth," the story explains. "This may force companies to implement alternative storage technologies," which it says may introduce new costs and new levels of complexity.

That doesn't mean that virtualization isn't a transformative technology. It does mean that state-of-the-art virtualization wares will continue to evolve as VMware and its many rivals look for ways to further simplify their products. By extension, it also means that VMware isn't unbeatable. —Andrea Orr

See Aug. 15 story from TheDeal.com
See Aug. 23 story from PC World
See recent research report from the 451 Group

Tags: VMware, virtualization, ipo, m&a, vc, venture+capital