Much has been said about so-called “virtualization stall" that is inhibiting enterprises from more aggressively adopting virtual machines; now it’s time to manage the challenges.

Statistically, 90% to 95% of organizations are using server virtualization to some degree, and many have virtualization in production environments. Yet, among organizations that have adopted virtualization, most have only virtualized 15% to 30% of their servers, according to IT research firm Focus Consulting, in Boulder, Colo.

Why the slow rate? Companies “are bumping into a whole lot of management challenges,” said Barb Goldworm, president and chief analyst at Focus, speaking at a session on virtualization management at Interop in New York on Oct. 21.

As a result of the management challenges, “virtualization stops living up to its promise,” Goldworm said. Issues such as virtual machine (VM) sprawl, lack of adequate monitoring, compliance and security concerns, and unsteady server performance, are hindering virtualization rollouts.

Fortunately, Goldworm notes, there are plenty of virtualization management tools on the market, and IT executives need to determine which are the best fit for their organizations. Products from vendors including CA Technologies, Microsoft, EMC, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, VMware, Citrix and others, address areas such as performance, capacity, VM lifecycle and security management.

Unless companies put these tools in place, Goldworm maintained, they won’t really get the most out of server virtualization strategies.