Why so critical to have a management solution in virtualization?

One key benefits of Virtualization is the ability to offer more with less. Many of us first visualized virtualization through previously called server consolidation and now Server Virtualization, by running multiple server incidences on a single physical machine. The case studies of business values and infrastructure optimization brought by virtualization are well documented and available and not repeated here. What I personally see IT Pros must also keep in mind is in production not all resources can and will be virtualized. Even in a highly virtualized infrastructure, there are and will be still some physical machines needed to create the environment for all virtualized resources to run with. Without a physical world, virtualization has no meaning. Physical and virtual resources are to co-exist to make either distinguishable from each other. Going forward, we should expect and will have a heterogeneous infrastructure mixed with physical and virtualized computing resources. The essence of virtualization therefore is not just about those virtualized, but the ability to transparently manage resources regardless if they are virtualized or not. I encourage those who are serious in carrying out infrastructure optimization by virtualization to pay close attention to the development of System Center family of solutions, and particularly System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008 to gain a holistic and strategic view of managing virtualization.