Masse, who is the infrastructure and operations manager at Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union in Palo Alto, Calif., said he was reassured after he saw the survey results. "It revalidates our strategic planning," he said.

For example, the survey of 400 companies worldwide found an average cost savings of 16 percent from server consolidation projects. That's in line with what Masse is expecting from Addison Avenue's project - savings in the range of 15 percent to 20 percent once the credit union's consolidation work is completed over the next year.

The physical consolidation is done, he said, adding that the next step will be to virtualize many of the company's systems and try to increase their utilization rates.

Gartner analyst John Phelps cautioned that savings from consolidation projects can vary considerably, depending on the size of the company and the scope of the project.

And although the survey showed that a desire to reduce total cost of ownership is the major driver behind consolidation initiatives, it isn't the only one, Phelps said. He noted that respondents also cited improving control over IT service levels and reducing server sprawl as leading reasons for consolidating their systems.