Horses for courses

Google's requirements are far different to the average company. In a large utility, we run over a thousand servers, but only 75% are physical servers, the rest test and prod VMware servers runnign on the ESX hardware. We had power limitations, and had to rent new datacentre space, and this kept our in house size/heat/power constraints down, as well as reducing rent on growth in the DCs. It also helps for eliminating old hardware on servers that the business can't get rid of - physical to virtual, and you elimiate issues with the physical almost entirely (still the odd service issue).

If it's right for your organisation, it's a real boon. But if it's not a fit, then why follow hype? Vendors will tell everyone it's for them. That's what IT is for - not to put in what's new, but what's needed