Server virtualisation is becoming increasingly popular among banks in the UK and US as part of overall attempts to streamline deployment processes and save energy, according to a Microsoft funded study.

The research, conducted by polling firm KRC Research, surveyed 100 large banking institutions in both countries and found that the majority (58 per cent) are already using virtualisation technology.

Core areas where virtualisation is taking place include applications (61 per cent), networking (54 per cent), machine operating systems (48 per cent) and presentation (27 per cent).

Of the banks surveyed, 51 per cent said that virtualisation enables quicker response to failures of applications or systems. Other drivers behind the adoption of the technology included saving space (46 per cent), simplified provision of security (46 per cent) and saving energy (34 per cent).

Some 95 per cent of those polled use the technology in local or general headquarters in areas such as datacentres, while 53 per cent use it within branch offices, followed by 32 per cent of banks that say they will definitely or probably use it in branches.

“Banks realise the impact virtualisation can have on operations, from the datacentre to the desktop, and how it should be embraced as part of an enterprise-wide infrastructure strategy," said Microsoft’s managing director of the US financial services group Rich Feldmann.