If you haven't already checked out VMware's Ultimate Virtual Appliance Challenge, you should. Unfortunately, time is running out for you to make your opinion known! The deadline to cast your vote is tomorrow, July 31.

VMware has granted the individuals that make up the virtualization community the right to choose which virtual appliance should be crowned the VMTN Community Choice Appliance. The winner will not only receive this award of recognition, they will also receive a $5000 prize award.

Contestants from around the globe have sent in over 300GB of entries to be used and judged. John Troyer, VMware Senior Product Manager, VMTN online, has reported that the judges have been hard at work evaluating the appliance submissions. An announcement is expected on Monday, August 14, 2006 as to which appliances will win one of the many prizes, of which first prize is a whopping $100,000.

Even if you have no intention of actually voting, you should still check out the list of virtual appliances being made available. VMware has created yet another tremendous value add for virtualization users. The creating and sharing of virtual appliances is a huge bonus for the virtualization community.

I personally found myself recently in need of creating a powerful IT host and network monitoring solution - with a budget of zero and as much spare time as my budget was allowed, I needed to move quickly. I checked out the virtual appliances being offered on the VMTN challenge site, and sure enough, there were quite a few entries that fit within my $0 budget and they claimed to be up and operational within minutes. The claims were true. It didn't cost me anything in time or money. Within 10 minutes after downloading, I had a Linux machine installed and configured - complete with a web server, database and monitoring solution. I was literally monitoring my machines within minutes.

A monitoring appliance is only one such solution being offered. There are many categories and sub-categories currently being made available. And the amazing thing about these virtual appliances is that there are so many different possibilities available... possibilities that end only when creativity runs out.

Go check out the appliance challenge entries, here. There is still time to vote for your favorite!

Posted by David Marshall on July 30, 2006 02:35 PM