Symantec Survey Finds Surprising Number of Small Businesses Not Protecting Data on Virtualized Servers

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style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Symantec

announced the

findings of its href="http://www.symantec.com/content/en/aa/about/collaterals/APJ_Report-2011_SMB_Virtualization_Poll.pdf"> style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">2011

Small Business virtualization Poll style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">which

examined the adoption of virtualization within small businesses and its

impact on their organizations. According to the survey, small

businesses have a strong interest in virtualization, but are still

learning how to adopt it in their organisations. As they implement

server virtualization, small businesses are putting their data at

risk. The survey found that most small businesses aren't taking

the most basic steps to secure and protect their virtual

environments. The survey is based on 658 respondents in 28 countries

worldwide, of which 306 were from the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ)

region.

“ style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Virtualization

presents an opportunity for small businesses with seventy-two percent

in the APJ region considering server virtualization,” said Ajay

Goel, Managing Director, India & SAARC, Symantec. “The

majority of respondents cited cost efficiencies and disaster-recovery

readiness as benefits they're hoping to gain, with most still early

in the adoption cycle. We also found that many small businesses are

neglecting to protect their virtual environments, largely due to

budget and staffing constraints.”

style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Survey

Highlights

• face="Calibri, sans-serif"> face="Times New Roman, serif">Financial Benefits Driving Decision
  
  to Virtualize. Seventy-two

  percent of respondents from APJ said their organisations are
  
  considering virtualization. Not surprisingly, financial benefits rank
  
  highest among reasons to adopt server virtualization. Reduced capital
  
  expense was cited by 68 percent, while 67 percent respectively said
  
  reduced operating expense and the ability to improve disaster-recovery
  
  readiness would drive their decisions to deploy virtualization. Other
  
  benefits include the ability to use fewer servers for the same number
  
  of applications (65 percent) and improved server scalability (65
  
  percent).

• face="Calibri, sans-serif"> face="Times New Roman, serif">Limited IT Skills Holding Some Small
  
  Businesses Back. Despite

  their interest, small businesses are finding it difficult to move from
  
  discussions to execution. Only eight percent of APJ-based respondents
  
  have deployed virtualised servers and they are focusing their
  
  early-stage efforts on simpler, less critical application areas. Top
  
  challenges include performance (64 percent), backup (61 percent) and
  
  workload capacity and planning issues (58 percent). Nearly a third of
  
  small businesses not now planning virtualization cited lack of
  
  experience as a factor.

• face="Calibri, sans-serif"> face="Times New Roman, serif">Data on Virtualised Servers Lacking
  
  Basic Security Protection. face="Times New Roman, serif">As small businesses move to virtual
  
  environments, they do not protect and secure their data. Only 13
  
  percent always back up their virtualised servers and 24 percent backup
  
  infrequently or not at all. They are not doing any better in securing
  
  their data — only 40 percent are completely secured. Respondents say
  
  budget and staffing issues are preventing them from taking these
  
  essential actions. Even those who said they are somewhat or completely
  
  secure are, in fact, less secure than they think. A staggering 76
  
  percent forego endpoint protection, 73 percent do not have antivirus on
  
  their virtual servers, and 51 percent don't have a firewall.

style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Recommendations

style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">There are some simple things small

businesses can do to make sure

they are properly protecting their data and systems:

• face="Calibri, sans-serif"> face="Times New Roman, serif">Define a virtualization strategy: face="Times New Roman, serif"> Work with an IT consultant to develop a
  
  strategy. Proactively develop guidelines and assess your data
  
  protection and security needs. Determine if moving to these cloud
  
  services are right for you. Once you have a strategy, develop a plan
  
  and stick to it.

• face="Calibri, sans-serif"> face="Times New Roman, serif">Secure your virtual environments: face="Times New Roman, serif"> Consider what security solutions you
  
  need to secure your virtual environment, including a firewall,
  
  antivirus, and endpoint security. Make sure you have established
  
  security practices as an additional layer of protection.

• face="Calibri, sans-serif"> face="Times New Roman, serif">Protect your data: face="Times New Roman, serif"> Have a simplified approach to backup.
  
  Implement a solution that protects both physical and virtual
  
  environments. Consider a data deduplication solution to save space and
  
  time.

Symantec's

Small

Business virtualization Poll

Symantec's

Small

Business Poll is the result of research conducted in May 2011

by Applied Research,

which surveyed IT professionals responsible for managing computer

resources at small businesses with between 5 and 249 employees. The

survey was designed to gauge how small businesses are embracing

virtualization. The survey included 658 respondents in 28 countries

in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Asia Pacific

and Japan, and Latin America.