Stricter European privacy controls have helped virtualisation to achieve greater uptake in Europe than in North America, according to a networking vendor.

Zeus Technology claimed that the US had dodged the issue when it came to privacy concerns.

"Europeans care about privacy, and the US government has pretty much sold privacy to the highest bidder," said Dave Asprey, vice president of technology strategy at Zeus.

"The privacy regulations in Europe mean that virtualisation is a great way to provide added security because the data never leaves the data centre."

Asprey added that because users log-in remotely to a virtual machine the data is never on stored on their laptops.

"In the US it is probably on the laptop which someone stole from your car and then sold on eBay," he said.