This week we've been tackling the top questions IT leaders need to ask when considering a database platform switch.

We've talked about the hidden costs some vendors never mention, how a system's flexibility can vary among solutions, how sometimes plug-and-play isn't what you get with a system touting tremendous ease of implementation.

Today the question is: Will this new system allow my company to benefit from virtualization technology?

According to a new survey, "Toward a Smarter Information Foundation: 2010 IOUG Enterprise Platform Decisions Survey," conducted for the Independent Oracle Users Group by Unisphere Research and sponsored by VMware, virtualization can be challenging when transforming older data centers or building a new one.

The challenges range from costs and the fact that some software vendors don’t offer needed support.

"Virtualization has become a significant asset for IT, reducing time and cost of deploying new servers. However, the greatest challenge has been resistance from software venders [reluctant] to support their applications on virtualized servers," one respondent said in the survey.

Another big challenge is finding the expertise and skill sets to help implement and maintain the virtualized environment.

According to the survey more than four out of 10 polled can't find the right skills to address their current requirements.

Enterprises working with IBM won't face those challenges. IBM has the services, the skills and the support teams to help enterprises take advantage of virtualization in the data center and database infrastructure.

But some other vendors don't. And oftentimes an enterprise won't discover that unless they asked the big question at the start.