In December 2006 IDC published a new research (9-pages only) called Server Virtualization Maturity Index, predicting some expected points:

• While early server virtualization adoption was due to consolidation and migration of projects, new drivers for virtualization includes availability solutions and disaster recovery programs
• Automation is expected to play a strong role in managing virtualization resources in the next 18 months, as customers evaluate more sophisticated management tools
• Industry impacts of virtualization are becoming evident with an increase in the penetration of 4-way systems and customers choosing more richly configured systems

This is not the only prediction IDC published in December 2006: in another document the research firm repeat same things, but also throw in virtual appliances success.