Without going too much into the details of each prediction, here are their major statements:

1. Virtualization will become pervasive and integral to server and operating system design.

2. There will continue to be revenue associated with virtualization layers.

3. Virtualization will change the way offline systems are managed.

4. Operating system mobility enables servers outside traditional IT boundaries can be leveraged when needed.

5. Traditional IT vendors need to move into this hosting business.

6. Thanks to virtualization, mobile employees will be able to leave behind their hardware and take only software with them.

7. Virtualization technology will allow software appliances to exist and be consumed by end users, including consumers, SMBs, and especially enterprises.

8. Business models surrounding pricing and licensing will continue to be affected.

9. Virtual-hosted clients will become a viable solution for more organizations.

10. Factory preinstalls of server operating systems will decline.

11. Virtualization capabilities will heavily influence the paid-versus-free operating system deployment scenario.

A few of these are patently obvious. Virtualization isn't going anywhere. Though involve a little more insight into the futures in the market. #2 and #3 strike me particularly. Of the last three virtualizaton deployments I've been a part of, I've heard back from at least one that O/S bloat is a major problem post-deployment. No matter how hard you try to constrain your server count, the relative ease of deploying new machines tends to drive up that total number of servers under management.

Along with that is an associated increase in the number of "offline" machines. These systems don't get the same levels of patching "love" since they're traditionally left powered down for long periods of time. There are the potential for some levels of machine compromise with these systems during that (not always) short period between their later power on and subsequent patch updates. Definitely watch this space for more info on this problem as it arrives.

You can get your own copy of this report (as well as a few other reports and case studies of varying interest) at this web site. If anything, register and download for just the IDC report:
http://info.vmware.com/content/2007_Q3_CCS_Intel_Reg?src=rem_07Q41105_Winner&ossrc=rem_07Q41105_Winner