As companies lock their budgets and anticipate IT investments for the coming year, many are looking toward virtualization technologies as a way to cut costs while improving business efficiency. By reducing the number of physical machines necessary and increasing the virtual machines available, firms can lower their electricity bills along with a number of other expenses, according to a Network World report.

In addition, many organizations will add cloud services to their virtualized environments, allowing them only to pay for what they use. This strategy is often referred to as "cloud bursting," and, according to the news source, it can reduce the need for services that often remain idle.

To do so, however, organizations need to find the right cloud provider, whether they choose private, public or hybrid services. The cloud and the virtual infrastructure should be compatible with one another in order to ensure that they both perform as efficiently as possible, Network World noted.

According to IDC, the second half of the decade will see virtualization technologies become more widely adopted and experience revenue growth as more companies deploy the services to save money and improve performance.