Virtualization Report | David Marshall | February 2007

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February 2007

February 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Veeam Software Announces the New FastSCP 2.0 for ESX

Today, the international Russian software firm, Veeam Software, announced the release of their second generation fast and secure copy program - Veeam FastSCP 2.0 for VMware ESX Server.

Veeam FastSCP is an easy-to-use tool that is used to perform file management in a VMware ESX environment. According to the company, FastSCP allows a user to copy files from ESX to Windows, Windows to ESX or ESX to ESX. The software doesn't require any ESX server reconfiguration and it has a Windows Explorer-like user interface that is familiar to any Windows user.

The company claims that FastSCP is over 6 times faster than SCP when used to copy ISO files to an ESX Server, to make a backup copy of an existing virtual machine or to copy virtual machines and templates between ESX servers.

Ratmir Timashev, Veeam Software president and CEO said, "The new version is built on customer feedback, and brings the product to the next level with new functionality, scalability, security and ease-of-use."

The new version includes a number of major improvements:

ESX to ESX direct copy. FastSCP 2.0 allows a user to copy files directly between ESX servers or within one ESX server. Copying is fast and secure and doesn't require any configuration or setup.
Multiple ESX Management. The new version allows a user to work with several ESX servers at the same time within a single interface. All servers are displayed as a folder tree in the Windows Explorer-like UI. The user can easily navigate through the folder tree and switch from one server to another.
Complete File Management & Windows Integration. FastSCP allows a user to work with ESX servers just like one works with files and folders in Windows. FastSCP supports both Drag-n-Drop and Copy & Paste.

Veeam FastSCP is available as a free download, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 26, 2007 07:49 PM

February 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Novell Makes Announcements with Microsoft and Intel

Novell has recently come out with two announcements, one announcing a collaboration for customers between Novell and Microsoft, and the second, an announcement between Novell and Intel about a device driver allowing unmodified Windows Server 2000/2003 and XP to run in Xen virtual environments on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and Intel Virtualization Technology. listen LISTEN!

Posted by David Marshall on February 26, 2007 07:42 PM

February 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)

StorageCraft and VMware Sign OEM Agreement

Utah-based StorageCraft Technology, provider of innovative disk-based backup, disaster recovery, data protection and security solutions for servers, desktops and laptops, announced an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement with virtualization software provider VMware.

StorageCraft said that it licensed the company's Volume Snapshot Manager (VSM) to VMware for use in VMware's virtual machine migration application, VMware Converter 3.0.

VMware will leverage the StorageCraft technology to speed up the time it takes to migrate to virtual systems. Since VSM is capable of performing a hot snapshot of a system, which allows an administrator to avoid the need to shut down a system when migrating to a VMware virtual machine, the migration process becomes simplified and saves time.

According to Scott Barnes, CTO at StorageCraft, "We are excited to incorporate StorageCraft technology in VMware Converter." He continued, "VMware is the virtualization leader and StorageCraft snapshot technology is a natural fit to simplify the migration process."

For more information about StorageCraft's Volume Snapshot Manager, visit the company's Web site.

Posted by David Marshall on February 25, 2007 02:55 PM

February 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Virtualization Licensing for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2

Microsoft does it again. Just when you thought you were completely confused about Microsoft virtualization licensing, they do it again.

Remember when Microsoft announced their virtualization license policy for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition? You know, the one where if you purchased the Datacenter Edition of Windows, you could basically run an unlimited number of Windows operating systems within virtual machines running on that host server.

Now, Microsoft announced a similar change to their SQL Server 2005 SP2 licensing.

According to Microsoft's official press announcement:

Microsoft Corp. today released Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2, an update to its award-winning data management and analysis platform. Customers can now take advantage of enhancements in the familiar and easy-to-use Windows Vista operating system and 2007 Microsoft Office system to easily connect and integrate with the power, security and reliability of SQL Server 2005.
In addition, Microsoft announced that it is expanding virtualization use rights to allow unlimited virtual instances on servers that are fully licensed for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition. For customers who want maximum flexibility in their use of virtualization technology, now or in the future, SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition is the ideal choice.

So if you are a Windows shop, Microsoft is making it quite attractive for you to go out and purchase one really large, powerful server, then install Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition and then virtualize all of your Windows servers. And now, if you run SQL Server, purchase one SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition license, and you can run an unlimited amount of virtual instances of the application as well.

It definitely makes you rethink your server architecture when you consider the license cost savings.

Posted by David Marshall on February 25, 2007 02:37 PM

February 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Egenera Awarded Patent for ARP in Virtualization

Egenera, Inc. announced that they have been awarded U.S. Patent No. 7,174,390 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent is titled, "Address resolution protocol system and method in a virtual network."

According to the company, "Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) within conventional Ethernet networks associates server and application IP addresses with their Ethernet addresses. And in systems such as the Egenera BladeFrame system that emulate Ethernet semantics on a high-bandwidth, low-latency, point-to-point fabric, virtual circuits in the fabric direct traffic flow."

The company continued, "Typically, it is necessary to further convert Ethernet addresses into virtual circuit numbers whenever traffic is sent - adding an extra table look-up for each transmission. Egenera's invention obviates the extra step by combining the virtual circuit table with the ARP table, lowering latency and processing overhead."

Pete Manca, executive vice president of Engineering and CTO, Egenera said, "With a world-class engineering organization, Egenera continues to build a strong intellectual property portfolio that extends our lead and furthers our mission to power the next-generation virtual datacenter."

For more information about the company and its products, visit their Web site.

Posted by David Marshall on February 25, 2007 02:20 PM

February 25, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Review: Parallels and VMware Mac Solutions

Virtualization on Intel-based Mac OS X machines has been a hot topic for quite a while. Parallels hit the ground running when it first introduced us to their Desktop for Mac product, and they haven't slowed down or looked back since. Microsoft bowed out quietly, saying they wouldn't update their Virtual PC for Mac product to work with the latest Intel Mac OS. And with all of that, there was definitely a missing player in the Mac virtualization market for a while, and people sat quietly waiting for some type of response from virtualization giant VMware. That message came in August of 2006 when VMware officially announced that it would bring to market its own Mac OS X virtualization solution, code-named Fusion.

So, how do these two solutions compare? - VMware and Parallels

ComputerWorld recently published a comparison review between VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop for Mac titled Mac virtualization: VMware and Parallels side by side.

In the review, Ryan Faas looks at the two products by comparing the ease of installation and setup, the ease of use and operation, and then follows it up with comparing advanced configuration and device access.

Ryan's overall impressions were:

Both Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion are good products. However, it is clear that Fusion still needs some work in terms of its performance and to fully implement its feature set. It also isn’t quite as stable and reliable as Parallels.
All of that is to be expected from a product currently in beta testing, but it does mean that Parallels remains the better option for the time being despite the fact that Fusion offers some features that the commercial release of Parallels doesn’t, such as drag and drop, control over how many processor cores virtual machines can access and full USB 2.0 support.

...

As a result, it seems that for the foreseeable future, VMware will remain a generation behind Parallels.

The review starts off by discussing performance and benchmarking within both platforms. Unfortunately, VMware's EULA prohibits reviews and publications around such findings without permission. Otherwise, doing a scientific benchmarking approach between both platforms would prove quite valuable in a head-to-head product assessment. The other problem with doing so right now is that VMware's Fusion is still in beta, and as such, the product is still running in debug mode. So any benchmarking or performance data found would be, in my opinion, null and void anyway until VMware either removes the forced debug option or until they come out with a release version.

While reading the review, I was lead to ask myself another question: Which versions/builds were being compared? I could only assume that the Parallels version being used was the most current GA version and not one of the many release candidates that Parallels has made available since drag and drop, USB 2.0 and iSight have been added.

I also had to question the belief that VMware would remain a generation behind Parallels. I think that's a huge leap to take by simply comparing a beta and released platform against one another.

I realize that Parallels has a "head start" in the Mac community and also has a higher versioned product out there right now. However, VMware is offering Virtual SMP, 64-bit support and has a billion dollar company behind its product. It's even showcasing 3D graphics inside of a virtual machine! And even though this product is a beta release right now, I believe the product is leveraging code that has been running in the wild for many years now - VMware Workstation.

I think both products are currently offering a lot of really great features. And as the two companies continue to innovate and enhance their platforms, the Mac consumer is going to be the overall winner.

Read the comparison review, here, and let me know your thoughts on the subject.

Posted by David Marshall on February 25, 2007 07:33 AM

February 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Double-Take Introduced to VMware Infrastructure

Double-Take Software Inc. has announced that it is enhancing its replication product offering for VMware environments. The solution will now replicate the virtual machines at the host level, which should make the solution more cost effective for the end user.

Previously, each virtual machine had to have its own Double-Take replication product installed and licensed in the guest operating system. In this updated version of the software, Double-Take for VMware Infrastructure runs on a single Windows server in a virtualized environment, and allows administrators to centrally manage and monitor multiple virtual machine protection jobs from any Windows desktop using the client management console.

Double-Take for VMware Infrastructure captures changes regularly, keeping the target virtual disks up to date and ready for failover, recovery and backup at any time. During an outage, the replicated virtual machine can be started on the target server with the latest replicated data available.

The replication does not however provide continuous or byte-level data protection. According to the company, the transmission of data is scheduled in 15 minute intervals or can be scheduled whenever there is 32MB or more of data to transmit. Work is ongoing with VMware to provide byte-level replication as the company is a member of the VMware Community Source program.

"It's the optimal solution for virtual machine users who believe ease-of-use and proven reliability are top priorities," added Bob Roudebush, director of solutions engineering at Double-Take Software. "By offering protection of entire virtual machines, in addition to flexible replication and compression features, Double-Take for VMware Infrastructure serves as a viable solution for any organization working with business-critical systems running in VMware environments."

Double-Take for VMware Infrastructure is compatible with VMware ESX Server versions 3 and later, and VirtualCenter version 2 or later. Other key features include:

Agent-less Installation - No "agent" software is required, resulting in easy management and rapid deployment of protection scenarios;
Enterprise Ready - Installs on a single server in the environment; the management console client may be installed on multiple desktops for remote management and monitoring;
Protection Wizard - With just a few mouse clicks, and in less than a minute, a virtual machine protection scenario can be created and deployed;
Virtual Infrastructure Browsing - Leverages the logical groupings and hierarchies available in VMware VirtualCenter, making it possible for administrators to easily navigate through configured virtual machines;
Compression Options - Provides options for compressing the replicated files, providing flexible trade-offs between host system resource consumption and network bandwidth usage;
Replication Frequency Options - Provides flexibility to configure the frequency of change replication based on either the amount of change or the time that has elapsed since the last replication window.

Posted by David Marshall on February 24, 2007 09:15 AM

February 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

XDS Goes From Stealth to Virtual Desktop

For the past four years, XDS Inc. has been operating in stealth-mode developing their patent-pending virtualization technology used to deliver desktop environments to any device.

Coming out of stealth-mode, the company finally announced the official launch of its first service, the SIMtone Virtual Desktop Utility (VDU). The solution is described as an enterprise-grade, on-demand utility solution that is designed to securely deliver corporate Windows desktop environments seamlessly across broadband networks. And these desktop environments are actually hosted on servers residing in a secure data center, rather than installed on a user's local PC. The company likens the technology to a "digital dial tone" that automatically provides network, session and device control, provisioning and management capabilities.

According to XDS, the SIMtone VDU is a new network and desktop session control and delivery management service that eliminates the costly and complex software and hardware infrastructure corporations are required to build and operate to securely manage and deliver desktop computing services to their employees at their ever-changing work locations.

Some of the SIMtone VDU features include:

Network Provisioned: The SIMtone VDU is truly a utility which is 100% network provisioned and available 24/7/365 on demand, globally. Windows Desktop Servers need only to be connected to a SIMtone VDU appliance, such as the Enterprise Connector Appliance, designed for quick, "bolt on" deployment. The Dashboard allows network-based on demand management of user privileges and service features for any number of VDU Servers from anywhere, with fine grain control enhancing efficiency and providing Business Continuity Disaster Recovery (BCDR) failover capability.
Plug & Play Installation: The SIMtone VDU automatically 'lights-up' a variety of terminals, called SNAP's, on any broadband connection on the Corporate WAN and on the Internet, that can be used to access a Windows Desktop. Just power on a SNAP to connect to your desktop over any broadband or WAN connection, even when connected behind a firewall or via a special router
(such as those doing Network Address Translation). The SIMtone VDU will overcome these barriers and securely deliver the Employee Windows Desktop Session to that SNAP, without any subscriber intervention, configuration, and address setting.
Simple Usability: The SIMtone VDU operates as an always-on utility service that is accessible from any high speed internet connection. It is as pervasive as the "dial tone" made famous by Plain Old Telephone Service, and is just as simple to use for the IT administration and for the Employee.
99.999% Reliability: The SIMtone VDU is designed, built and operated to the highest grade industrial standards by world class telecom-grade professional organization. Redundant systems, multiple networking paths, backup power, and 24/7 monitoring and maintenance ensure that this service will not go down.
Absolute Security: The SIMtone VDU brokers requests for access between a subscriber and the requested Desktop server, managing security, device capabilities and connectivity all at once. Thanks to its patent-pending network management technology The Enterprise firewall can be now closed to incoming connections, thus eliminating any chance of hacking or infection. Once a connection is established, no actual data is transferred as only pixels are delivered to the remote device. No pixels or any other data are cached or stored anywhere on the network, or on the SNAP so losing a device has no data loss liabilities. The SIMtone VDU also integrates easily with existing two-factor authentication (e.g. RSA) done at the Service Center to ensure only authorized access to corporate data.
Seamless Session Mobility: TheSIMtone VDU overcomes networking barriers and keeps sessions going under even the most trying circumstances. Whether switching between different SNAPs, Wi-Fi hotspots, or different internet service providers, a session will be maintained down to the last keystroke. Even if it requires re-connecting to the internet, which SNAPs do automatically, the subscriber won't lose a thing.

Available now, the SIMtone VDU is a subscription service priced at $39.95 per month, per user. For additional pricing and more information, please visit their Web site.

Posted by David Marshall on February 24, 2007 08:28 AM

February 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware's Product Voted Best for Building the New Data Center

VMware Gains Recognition from Network World as the #1 Product for Building the Next Generation Data Center

VMware, the virtualization software solution giant, announced in a press release that Network World has named VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) the best product for building what they have dubbed the 'New Data Center'. Network World defines the 'New Data Center' as the next-generation infrastructure that is automated, virtualized, flexible, modular and knows no perimeters.

VI3 is currently in its third generation and is arguably the most stable and most used virtualization platform in its market. And according to VMware, the virtualization suite is designed to deliver comprehensive virtualization, management, resource optimization, application availability and operational automation capabilities in an integrated offering.

Joanne Cummings of Network World said that few new data center architects need an introduction to VMware server virtualization, but that some people might not be familiar with the latest version. And I would tend to agree with that statement. She calls out the new product enhancements such as the increase in the number of Virtual SMPs supported (from two to four), the increase in the overall memory limit (from 4GB to 16GB), the addition of iSCSI and NAS support, as well as the new features such as distributed resource scheduling (DRS) and high availability (HA).

"VMware Infrastructure 3 provides a flexible platform offering customers the value and services they need to face an ever-changing IT landscape," said Raghu Raghuram, vice president of product and solutions marketing at VMware. "Being named to this list validates that our technology enables our customers to innovate and grow. VMware Infrastructure has evolved beyond achieving the industry's best server consolidation ratios to providing system infrastructure services for availability, resource management, data protection and optimized management and automation tools. It is truly an IT enabler, providing a flexible platform for meeting IT goals, from simplified desktop deployments, to fail-proof disaster recovery strategies."

More information about the Network World New Data Center awards can be found, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 24, 2007 07:14 AM

February 21, 2007 | Comments: (0)

SWsoft Announces Support Agreement with Microsoft

According to a recent press release, SWsoft, a recognized leader in server automation and virtualization software and maker of the award-winning Virtuozzo operating system virtualization software, has signed an agreement with Microsoft that helps SWsoft enhance its customers' experience.

As part of the agreement, SWsoft will receive 24-hour, 7-days a week support from Microsoft for its enterprise and hosting customers operating Windows-based applications within Virtuozzo virtual environments. The agreement is for a three-year period and benefits SWsoft enterprise and hosting customers running Virtuozzo for Windows Server virtualization software.

There might have been some initial confusion from this announcement, but SWsoft has assured me that under this agreement, Virtuozzo customers will still come to SWsoft to get support on Virtuozzo for Windows. If the problem involves a Windows issue, SWsoft now has 24/7 access to Microsoft support and will resolve the issue and get back to the customer with the resolution. They wanted to make sure that it was known that there would be only one point of contact for the customer and no finger pointing. All in all, better for the whole end-user experience.

"SWsoft will continue as the direct link to customers with the added benefits of Microsoft support and expertise," said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of SWsoft. "We're committed to expanding the breadth and functionality of our virtualization products for Windows and we are pleased to cooperate more closely with Microsoft for our customers’ benefit."

Posted by David Marshall on February 21, 2007 09:08 PM

February 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 Goes Gold

It's been a long road since Connectix Corporation first came out with Connectix Virtual PC. And then back in February of 2003, Microsoft acquired that technology and then shortly thereafter released Microsoft Virtual PC 2004.

With the world's view on how much virtualization should cost constantly changing, Microsoft added to that price fluctuation back in July when it announced that it would be giving away its Virtual PC 2004 SP1 product as well as its future release of Virtual PC 2007.

Well, that time has come. Microsoft finally released its latest, and probably its last version of Virtual PC into the wild. The desktop virtualization platform is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, and is supported on Windows XP Pro, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista.

The new version, free of charge, added the following features:

Support for Windows Vista 64-bit as a host
Support for Windows Vista as a guest operating system
AMD-V and Intel VT support
Improved performance over the previous version of Virtual PC 2004

You can download this free virtualization platform, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 19, 2007 07:15 PM

February 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)

OpenVZ Virtualization Project Adds New Features

OpenVZ, the open source project supported by SWsoft, announced a set of new features found in its operating system server virtualization software.

The software can now deliver checkpointing and live migration support for IA64 processors. This, according to the company, is a unique feature that isn't found in any other open source operating system virtualization software. The feature allows system administrators to move virtual servers between physical servers without end-user disruption or the need for costly storage capacity.

It works by freezing the state of a running virtual machine, storing the image on disk and then restoring it on another server. The function executes between any two servers on a network, so it works for any server and any application. OpenVZ can deliver this capability without the need for additional requirements, such as a SAN.

Additionally, network file system (NFS) support makes it possible to access network disk files from within OpenVZ virtual environments. And VLAN IEEE802.1Q network standards are supported in virtual environments, so that every network packet can be tagged to a distinct network.

Also added is filesystem in userspace (FUSE) support, which allows for an FTP or SSH server to be presented like a file system within a virtual environment.

I/O accounting for each VE solves the problem of distributing I/O throughput (which can be a performance bottleneck) across all virtual environments. The scheduling feature will make it possible to set priorities so that some VEs can be set as "high priority" for disk access, and others as "low priority".

"We intend to continue bringing our users more advanced technology throughout the year," said project manager Kir Kolyshkin. "We're off and running in 2007 delivering users with new features in OpenVZ software."

The new OpenVZ kernel software can be downloaded, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 19, 2007 04:34 PM

February 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Parallels Desktop for Mac Updates with RC3

While I'm still thinking about that "unofficial" VMware Fusion 3D video circulating around the Internet, Parallels decided to up their ante with yet another release candidate version of their Desktop for Mac product.

Release Candidate 3 (Build 3170) doesn't offer new virtual 3D graphics, but it does add a few new interesting updates to their desktop virtualization platform:

You can now seamlessly upgrade a Windows XP virtual machine to Windows Vista.
The drag-and-drop feature has been made more secure. In RC3, when you drag-and-drop a file for the first time, you will be prompted if you would like to enable "local" or "global" file sharing. Parallels describes the difference like so: Global sharing shares the entire Mac file system and is disabled by default. Local sharing on the other hand only shares your Home Folder.
Transporter RC3 is now bundled and it allows you to migrate your real Windows PC, or existing VMware or Virtual PC virtual machines into Parallels virtual machines.
USB 2.0 support is added so that all of your devices like external hard drives, printers, scanners and web cameras are supported. They have also included iSight support at full native speed.

You can find out more about the RC3 release or download it, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 19, 2007 04:15 PM

February 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)

InnoTek Announces New Release of VirtualBox Virtualization

InnoTek recently announced that it has released VirtualBox 1.3.4, an important update to its leading virtual machine product which is available as both, an open-source and a commercial application with professional support.

The product has had over 800 improvements made, largely based on the comments and feedback that it has received from the VirtualBox user community.

The company also announced that it has completed an agreement with Ubuntu to integrate VirtualBox into Ubuntu's upcoming 7.04 release (dubbed "Feisty Fawn"), which the company says will make it even easier to enjoy professional virtualization in a user-friendly manner.

InnoTek said they will exhibit at the world's largest IT trade show, CeBIT 2007 in Hannover, Germany, taking place from March 15th until March 21st. During the show, InnoTek will demonstrate VirtualBox running on Linux, Windows and Mac OS, discuss VirtualBox development and provide technical support.

Some of the interesting features of VirtualBox include:

Unprecedented modularity - VirtualBox has an extremely modular design with well-defined internal programming interfaces and a clean design that separates client and server code. This makes it easy to control it from several interfaces at once: for example, you can start a VM simply by clicking on a button in the VirtualBox main program and then control that machine from the command line, or even remotely. Due to its modular architecture, VirtualBox can also expose its full functionality and configurability through a comprehensive software development kit (SDK).
Easy portability - VirtualBox already runs on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 as well as on all major Linux distributions from Red Hat, Novell and others. In addition, a version for use on embedded μkernel systems is available. Versions for 64-bit host operating systems and for Mac OS X will be available soon.
Arbitrary screen resolutions (host-controlled) - In guest systems that support it (currently Windows guests), you can change the guest resolution simply by resizing the virtual machine window in the host system.
Multigeneration snapshots - VirtualBox can save successive snapshots of the state of the virtual machine. You can revert the virtual machine to the state of any of the snapshots.
VRDP remote access - You can run any virtual machine in a special VirtualBox program that acts as a server for the VirtualBox Remote Desktop Protocol (VRDP). With this unique feature, VirtualBox provides high-performance remote access to any virtual machine. A custom RDP server has been built directly into the virtualization layer and offers unprecedented performance and feature richness.
Extensible RDP authentication - VirtualBox already supports Winlogon on Windows and PAM on Linux for RDP authentication. In addition, it includes an easy-to-use SDK which allows you to create arbitrary interfaces for other methods of authentication.
USB over RDP - Via RDP virtual channel support, VirtualBox also allows you to connect arbitrary USB devices locally to a virtual machine which is running remotely on a VirtualBox RDP server.
Folder sharing - VirtualBox folder sharing lets you access files from the host system inside guests. Shared folders can be set up for all virtual machines, or for a single VM. Temporary shared folders may also be set up while a VM is running.

You can download VirtualBox, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 18, 2007 03:46 PM

February 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VirtualLogix Offers Virtualization for Mobile Handsets

VirtualLogix, formerly Jaluna, introduced the availability of its VLX Mobile eXperimentation (VLX-MX) Edition for handsets. VLX-MX will be freely available this quarter, and will allow customers to evaluate VirtualLogix's mobile handset solution and begin development without any investment risk.

With the real-time virtualization software from VirtualLogix, handset makers are developing feature-rich mobile handsets on single-processor core chips, and lowering the bill of materials, while simultaneously increasing security and reliability with the use of Linux.

"Virtualization technology is playing a vital role in the rapid adoption of Linux, which drives performance and technology enhancements in the handset market," said Haila Wang, president, Linux Phone Standards Forum. "However, in order to easily adopt Linux, manufacturers need solutions to help them overcome development issues. VirtualLogix's MX Edition provides an innovative way to test virtualization technologies and gauge the type of cost savings and other benefits that it provides."

To date, the cost of dual-core processors has limited handset manufacturers ability to ship a Linux-based phone to the mass market. VLX-MX allows a commercial or proprietary real-time operating system and Linux operating system to run simultaneously on a single ARM926 core, without the need for an additional application processor.

"Integrating rich functionalities such as multimedia, financial transactions and digital rights management in an open system, and having it work securely in real-time with basic phone services is impossible to achieve with only one proprietary real-time operating system. Linux plus real-time virtualization is the solution," said Mark Milligan, vice president of marketing at VirtualLogix. "VLX for Mobile Handsets, eXperimentation Edition enables our customers to experience, first-hand, how virtualization can speed the creation of compelling, break-through products."

VLX-MX is available to qualified customers for development purposes, but is restricted from product deployment. It is free to download and will be available on the VirtualLogix Web site in Q1 2007. Customers can be notified when VLX-MX is available by registering, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 18, 2007 03:00 PM

February 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Thinstall Announces Application Virtualization Suite 3.0

Thinstall Application Virtualization Suite 3.0 helps simplify the application process with its client-less application virtualization solution that allows applications to be packaged into simple EXE files that run in user-mode, isolated from the host PC, and without the need to install or change the local system's registry or file system.

The company is one of the last remaining application virtualization startups to remain independent. Softricity SoftGRID was acquired by Microsoft and Altiris SVS was recently acquired by Symantec.

Thinstall virtualizes software packages which is not to be confused with products such as those from VMware which virtualizes the entire operating system environment. Instead, by virtualizing software packages, applications themselves become easier to deploy and manage. The application itself becomes isolated from the operating system and the other applications on the machine by getting wrapped into its own isolated sandbox environment. By doing so, it protects the local machine against changes made to the file system and registry and enables true separation of application and OS.

Some of the key features in their Virtualization Suite 3.0 product include:

Instant zero-footprint deployment
User-mode only, no device drivers
No client or Server required
Fast, lightweight virtualization
Streaming capability without server or client
Support for offline execution
Windows Vista ready - instant migration
File System and Registry isolation eliminating conflicts
Sandboxing to protect machines against modifications
Support for most Windows applications

Henrik Rosendahl, executive vice-president of Thinstall said, "The new Thinstall Application Virtualization Suite 3.0 reduces support costs by eliminating runtime conflicts and speeds time to market." He continued, "Until now, one of the most time consuming and expensive components of delivering software was testing. Months of regression testing doesn't eliminate installation or run-time conflicts which result in costly technical support that erodes profits. Thinstall virtually eliminates QA testing against multiple platforms and other applications, allowing a faster time to market and ensures a flawless end user experience."

A 30-day evaluation of the product can be downloaded, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 17, 2007 09:06 AM

February 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Citrix Announces Application Delivery Platform - PS 4.5

Citrix has announced the release of their latest version of Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 to help enable companies to deliver windows applications with better peformance, security and TCO.

Version 4.5 comes with significant, new capabilities such as on-demand application streaming, centralized application provisioning, end-user experience monitoring, enhanced single sign-on, and advanced graphics acceleration.

Presentation Server 4.5 provides a new, state-of-the art way of delivering Windows applications, making it dramatically easier and more cost effective to deliver Windows-based applications to any user, on any device, in any location.

John Humphreys, an analyst at IDC, said, "This latest release of Presentation Server with both application virtualization and streaming technologies provides even more flexibility for enterprise Windows customers with large application portfolios."

He continued, "The combination of these technologies-in addition to all the other new features that take advantage of Citrix's array of infrastructure technologies-not only helps their customers virtualize their applications, but also choose how to manage, provision and secure applications for their users."

The much anticipated application streaming technology was first introduced to us at the Citrix annual user conference in Florida last autumn. The technology was formerly code-named Tarpon, and has been talked about a great deal since it was first announced.

Some of the new features offered include:

On-Demand Application Streaming - Presentation Server has always provided the best way to virtualise the delivery of client-server based Windows applications, enabling them to be centrally installed and managed while providing a great access experience for end users. With its innovative new application streaming technology, Presentation Server 4.5 now extends these same benefits to desktop applications like Microsoft Office 2007, allowing them to be streamed over the network to users as an on-demand service, much like downloaded music or videos. This process is entirely transparent to end users who continue to access desktop applications from their Windows Start menu, just as they have in the past. Because streamed applications operate in a protected isolation environment on each user's desktop, IT managers can now offer a much wider range of desktop applications to users without worrying about version conflicts and migration headaches. When users are disconnected from the network, streamed applications run normally, just as if they had been installed via traditional means. When connected, any new updates, patches or rollbacks are automatically, and transparently, streamed to each user, ensuring they are always working with the latest version.

Centralized Application Provisioning - The new centralized application provisioning capabilities give customers with large Presentation Server farms one central location to stage the latest versions of all Windows, desktop and client-server applications, enabling IT to provision new applications and servers more quickly than ever before. As a result, the delivery and maintenance of Windows applications across mid-to-large enterprises is greatly simplified, allowing many application updates, rollouts or rollbacks to be completed during normal business hours without the need for weekend or late night implementations.

Enhanced Application Security - With automated single sign-on powered by Citrix Password Manager, it is now much easier for IT administrators to give users a single password that works across multiple applications, regardless of whether those applications are delivered by Presentation Server or not. The capabilities can even be extended to web and host-based applications from trusted partners using federated identity credentials such as Microsoft's ADFS (Advanced Directory Federation Services). In addition, the automated single sign-on feature enables IT managers to allow users to reset their own Windows passwords and unlock their accounts through an easy web interface.

Advanced Graphics Acceleration - With the new SpeedScreen progressive display technology in Presentation Server 4.5, the performance of graphics displays in Windows-based applications over a network is improved by up to 20 times, making it possible for the first time ever to virtualise the delivery of even the most graphics-intensive applications with no compromise in end user experience. As a result, IT can now take advantage of all the benefits of Presentation Server to deliver applications such as healthcare PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) and GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping, while providing the speed, data security, and anywhere-access flexibility that users need.

Presentation Server 4.5 comes in three editions - Advanced, Enterprise and Platinum. Available in March 2007, a suggested retail price starts at $350 per concurrent user and includes one year of Citrix Subscription Advantage support.

More details about the new features found in each edition can be found, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 17, 2007 08:28 AM

February 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)

InfoWorld Virtualization Executive Forum 2007 Recap

First let me say, for those of you that made it to the forum this year in San Francisco, I hope your time spent at the event was as fun and interesting as mine was. I sincerely had a great time getting the chance to talk and interact with many of you. Hopefully, we'll get another chance in the future to bump into each other.

Venue
So, what did you guys think of the venue? I found that the Hotel Nikko was a fantastic place to hold the forum. The hotel was absolutely beautiful, and the ballroom and breakout rooms easily accommodated those of us in the audience.

The food was actually pretty good. Unfortunately for one gentleman sitting next to me who was a vegetarian, he seemed to have a slightly difficult time getting his "veggie" plate as the rest of us devoured our chicken meal. Eventually it came, and hopefully he finished it off with one of those good deserts out in the exhibit area.

The Keynotes

Once again, the keynote sessions seemed fairly strong to me.

I enjoyed listening to and watching the presentation from Don Norbeck, Director of Product Development, SunGard Availability Services. His discussion about virtualization as a disruptive technology was spot on - listing best practices for an always available infrastructure.

This was followed up with a really good discussion by Carlos Montero-Luque, Vice President of Product Management, Open Platform Solutions, Novell and Mike Neil, Senior Director of Virtualization Strategy, Windows Server Division, Microsoft. We've been watching the partnership between Novell and Microsoft for months now. And this partnership continued to grow on stage as the two discussed their partnership and the joint technical roadmap leading the two companies to support interoperability, offering each other's operating systems as guest operating systems on each other other's virtualization platforms, and how the two companies would offer full support for each other's platforms going forward.

The Sessions

Unlike the event last year in New York, the San Francisco forum was only a one day event. It was difficult to catch all of the sessions and still network with everyone. And yet, with the increased number of attendees, things still seemed to move quickly but remain informative.

As usual, I knew the session on Virtualization Vendor Crossfire would be entertaining and enlightening. Tom Yager hosted Chris Barclay (Virtual Iron), Jack Lo (VMware), Gordon Mangione (XenSource) and Mike Neil (Microsoft) as they discussed the different approaches taken to each of their core technology offerings. This was followed by an excellent discussion about Polyserve's offering and how it is being used in the real world by companies such as Avanade.

A number of interesting breakout sessions followed that offered something for everyone. The discussions went from storage solutions, to software testing, to desktop virtualization and another on how to wrap things up and put them into production.

For me, the evening was capped off perfectly with Doug Dineley hosting a panel talking about Virtualization Futures: Trends and Forecasts. There was nothing held back in this discussion. I was quite impressed with Scott Jones, Product Manager, Altiris. He is always good for a great discussion.

Perhaps the highlight for me was having a small breakout session with a few people who read or listen to the Virtualization Report. We had a great discussion about virtualization that walked the line from storage, application, and server virtualization and back again. What I liked most was the round table discussion format, free form, and we each just asked one another whatever came to mind. Thank you guys for showing up and participating!

Exhibitors

This year, the number of exhibitors at the show once again proved how much virtualization is expanding and gaining traction in the community, as the number of booths grew to what seemed like at least a 3x multiplier compared with the forum held only a few months ago. The booths were obviously manned by experienced employees of the company, each offering great interaction and conversation about their different offerings.

I was extremely happy to get some hands-on time with the different products. Many of the exhibitors were demonstrating their wares with an actual demo of the product, which really helped me visualize and understand what it was they had to offer. Thanks to vThere, AppStream and Altiris, SWsoft, PlateSpin, and CA for showing me your products.

Thanks to everyone who helped make me feel at home at the show. We have some really great readers and sponsors. I look forward to seeing you all again next time. If you didn't make it to the forum this time, don't miss out on the next one!

Posted by David Marshall on February 15, 2007 04:42 PM

February 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

What do you mean I can't virtualize this operating system?

Ok, you have your hardware in place; you've selected and purchased your virtualization platform; and now, you're ready to create your first set of virtual machines and install their guest operating systems. But wait... you want to install which operating system? Find out which operating systems are a virtualization no-no. listen LISTEN!

Posted by David Marshall on February 14, 2007 03:31 PM

February 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Are You Attending InfoWorld's Virtualization Executive Forum?

Are you planning on attending the InfoWorld Virtualization Executive Forum on February 12, 2007 in San Francisco?

If you haven't signed up yet, don't worry, it isn't too late!

For those of you attending, I know you won't be disappointed. Last year's event in New York was extremely interesting and covered a wide variety of topics.

And once again, I am fortunate to be able to attend the forum, and I look forward to getting the chance to meet with those of you that have been reading and listening to the Virtualization Report. When I return from the trip, I hope to provide those that couldn't attend with an updated report on all of the excitement that took place.

See you in San Francisco!

Posted by David Marshall on February 10, 2007 08:00 AM

February 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware Cancels VMTN Subscriptions

With its introduction in June of 2005, VMware launched the VMware Technology Network (VMTN) Subscription program - an award-winning offering that provided software developers and QA professionals with access to VMware's powerful suite of virtualization products.

However, since its introduction, VMware has made numerous changes that have all but made the program obsolete in their eyes.

The company released two free virtualization products - VMware Player and VMware Server.
They enhanced their Technology Alliance Partner Program.
They introduced the Community Source program.
And, they opened up their VMware VMDK disk format, the VMware Perl toolkit, and the VMware SDK.

And so, VMware is no longer selling VMTN Subscriptions and the company is not going to renew those subscriptions that have already been purchased. With an active subscription, members can continue to take advantage of the services made available to them through the remainder of their current subscription period (one year from the start date of the subscription).

According to an email sent out by the company: "When your VMTN Subscription expires, you will be able to continue to utilize all software obtained through VMTN in accordance with your VMware VMTN Subscription restricted license agreement. In addition, for any additional Per Incident support purchased during the life of your VMTN Subscription, VMware will honor those for one year from date of purchase. To further protect your investment in software obtained through the VMware VMTN Subscription program, you are now also eligible, upon expiration of your VMTN Subscription, to purchase separate service and support contract(s) at the current list price. This is something never before offered to VMware VMTN Subscribers and will entitle you to continued software upgrades and support during your contracted support period. It is strongly encouraged that you obtain a separate support contract at the time your VMTN subscription expires. If you decide later to purchase support on the software obtained through your VMTN Subscription, the following Terms and Conditions will apply. You must pay the applicable fees for the current contract term and the amount of fees that would have been paid for the period of time that customer had not enrolled in the services. You may also be subject to a 20% reinstatement fee based upon the total amount of support purchased."

Posted by David Marshall on February 10, 2007 07:39 AM

February 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware Workstation Guest Isolation Vulnerability

SecurityFocus.com and Eitan Caspi have published an issue with the way VMware handles the guest operating system by allowing malicious programs installed under VMware to access sensitive information stored under the clipboard. In it, they write:

Each VM has its own settings. One settings category is "Guest Isolation", which includes a checkbox named "Enable copy and paste to and from this virtual machine". This feature can work only if the "VMware Tools" component is installed on the guest OS. The clipboard copy operation can transfer only text, not files or streams. Eitan has discovered the following issues regarding this component:

1. Changing the value of this feature (in either way enabling or disabling) becomes actually active only if a global operation is made towards the guest OS, like suspend and resume, reset, restart (from within the guest OS), shutdown (either from within the guest OS of by performing a "power off" from the VMware workstation application) and then turning it back on. Simply changing the check box value and pressing OK will not change current functionality of this feature.

2. When this feature is turned on and working The direction of the clipboard content transfer is the same as the direction of the focus change between guest and host operating systems and vice versa. But, when the host OS clipboard is empty and the focus is moved to the guest OS clipboard the guest clipboard is not cleared and left with its current content. Now, when focusing back to the host's, empty, source clipboard it is now filled with the content of the guest's clipboard thus the host clipboard is failing to keep itself erased and its previously cleared content is re-filled from the guest OS. This behavior may re-fill the host's clipboard with data that was intentionally erased (like password or credit card number). Strangely, this behavior does not happen when the process is started from the guest OS clipboard, and if it is the first to be erased, and then the focus moves to the host, the host's clipboard is erased. So, the issue here is only when the process starts from the host side.

Read here to find out more.

*Updated to the originator at SecurityFocus

Posted by David Marshall on February 10, 2007 07:30 AM

February 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

How Can Virtual Lab Automation Help You?

VMware is offering three new Webinars to help educate people on the use of Virtual Lab Automation as it begins to promote one of their latest offerings - VMware Lab Manager.

Overview of Virtual Lab Automation
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time
1 hour
Find out how to:

Reduce the capital and operating expense of maintaining disparate systems in the test lab
Shorten the time you spend provisioning configurations by up to 50%
Give development and test teams self-service access to multi-machine configurations

Market Snapshot: Virtual Lab AutomationWednesday, February 28, 2007 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time
1 hour
Learn how your peers are:

Tackling infrastructure and process challenges associated with supporting the development and testing of complex applications and systems
Making the decision to adopt Virtual Lab Automation
Benefiting from the results of virtualizing and automating the test lab

Real-world experiences in the virtual labWednesday, March 14, 2007 9:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time
1 hour
Hear about:

How Virtual Lab Automation eliminates repetitive provisioning of complex test environments
Successes, quantifiable results and savings from the VMware Lab Manager implementation
Lessons learned in adopting Virtual Lab Automation

Go here to register.

Posted by David Marshall on February 10, 2007 06:52 AM

February 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Lxlabs Launches New hyperVM 1.4

Lxlabs launched version 1.4 of their flagship virtualization management software - hyperVM. The software brings enterprise virtualization management features that will allow the hosting companies to deliver assured levels of service to their customers. Enterprise features include a centralized backup system that delivers space savings equal to Copy On write file systems, but without any of the associated complexities.

Feature highlights include:

Industrial Strength centralized backup for the entire cluster. HyperVM backup uses linux hardlinks and rsync protocol to greatly reduce the space and the network overhead needed for backup management.
Ip pool: Allows the Administrator to keep track of all the ipaddresses from a single location, and also automates the process of assigning ipaddresses to a vps.
Vps Plans: Create vpses with a single click utilizing pre-built hosting plans.
A commercial grade port monitoring system incorporated directly into the software allowing the users to monitor specific ports on their vpses themselves.
A cluster wide reverse dns system, allowing the administrators to delegate creation directly to the customers.
Graphs that provide health statistics and resource usage patterns of the virtual machines.
Centralized Ostemplate management. The ostemplates need to be maintained only on the master, and the slave nodes will automatically download them if they don't have it.
Fine grained client control. HyperVM 1.4 provides the ability to control every aspects of your customer by limiting each feature individually.

Click here to explore a hyperVM software demonstration.

Posted by David Marshall on February 10, 2007 06:44 AM

February 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Can 3D Graphics be Achieved on Virtualization?

The question is no longer "can virtualization support 3D graphics?", the real question is - when?

An interesting video recently showed up on youtube, and oddly enough, the video was showcasing 3D graphics acceleration on VMware's Mac OS X beta virtualization platform, Fusion. And as expected, the video has generated a lot of buzz in the virtualization arena, as gaming fans and 3D application vendors have been salivating over the opportunity to run these types of applications within a virtual machine environment for quite some time.

After watching the video (which by the way is not being claimed by VMware marketing - but being billed as an unknown amateur video), you can clearly see where 3D acceleration is becoming possible. Granted, the 3D gaming taking place in the video was from some of the older generation technologies, but, we can see where this beta is taking us and I was quite pleased to see the progress being made.

For clarification of the video, VMware had the following to say on their official blog site:

This has been an "experimental feature" of our product line since Workstation 5.0, released almost 2 years ago.
It supports DirectX 8.1 with no shading. The Fusion tech lead said that they are working on 9 and 10.
You can turn it on right now in Workstation in your vmx file with mks.enable3d = TRUE.
Although the video shows it in a window, it will work in full screen mode just fine.
In the Fusion beta discussion forums, it was disclosed that this feature will be turned on in a future beta. Fusion's engine is a port of the Workstation/Player/Server family.

So again, the question comes back to timing? When? I haven't seen anything from VMware yet as to when this will happen, but since this is still in a beta, I would assume there is still much needed time for proper QA.

Parallels, however, continues to insist that 3D graphic acceleration is going to be in their next major beta release. When I spoke with Ben Rudolph of Parallels many months ago, this feature seemed high on their list as it would certainly help elevate Parallel's virtualization game. Which company will get 3D acceleration in a virtual machine to market first? Stay tuned.

Posted by David Marshall on February 10, 2007 06:09 AM

February 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IBM and HP Making Virtualization News

Large hardware vendors IBM and HP are making themselves known in the virtualization space yet again. This time, IBM is announcing its powerful virtualization technology, z/VM, and its offering looks like it scales out in a big way. HP is also out there, introducing several new hardware and software products that are intended to augment virtualization capabilities. listen LISTEN!

Posted by David Marshall on February 10, 2007 05:46 AM

February 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)

VMware Going IPO

It looks like parent company EMC will sell off approximately 10% of VMware via an initial public offering (IPO) of newly issued VMware stock.

EMC has no intention of spinning out or otherwise divesting its ownership interest in the virtualization giant.

Joe Tucci, EMC Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said,
"VMware is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the history of the
software industry. We expect the IPO to unlock more of VMware's value for EMC shareholders while also strengthening its ability to retain and attract the software industry's top talent."

Diane Greene, VMware President and EMC Executive Vice President, said,
"VMware has secured its leadership position in the virtualization market through industry-leading and award-winning products. Our focus on people, innovation, and the customer adoption of our products has enabled us to continue to grow our company and deliver significant value. We expect that the IPO will help us execute on our vision of an industry standard virtual infrastructure. It should enable us to accelerate our ability to find and attract great people, continue to invest in great product development, and grow an even stronger partner ecosystem."

EMC believes the IPO, which is expected to occur this summer, will
provide both EMC and VMware with a number of significant advantages
including:

Improved visibility into VMware's performance and growth relative to the market.
Strengthened VMware employee retention and recruitment through a broad-based equity award pool.
Reinforced commitment to VMware's open platform strategy.

Tucci continued, "We are dedicated to VMware's open platform strategy
and partnerships with industry-leading technology companies both large and small. VMware's open platform strategy is critical to the growth of virtual infrastructure as an industry standard layer that benefits all customers and partners."

The IPO is not expected to have a material impact on EMC's 2007
business outlook. VMware will be a publicly traded entity upon completion of the transaction. Tucci and Greene are expected to be named to VMware's Board of Directors.

Posted by David Marshall on February 7, 2007 06:55 PM

February 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Trigence Secures $8M in Funding

TAGS: General News

Application virtualization vendor Trigence has secured an $8 million round of Series B funding to allow the company to meet demands by extending the technology to additional platforms and accelerate sales through marketing and strategic partnership programs.

The financing round was led by GrowthWorks and includes existing investors BDC Venture Capital and VenGrowth Capital Partners. Tim Lee, Vice President, Investments at GrowthWorks said "GrowthWorks looks forward to helping Trigence continue on its growth trajectory."

With Trigence AE, legacy and newly developed applications are virtualized and encapsulated into independent, moveable objects that can be relocated within Solaris and Linux operating systems to virtually any setting without compromising functionality. By turning applications into self-contained capsules, Trigence AE dramatically improves application manageability in Linux or Solaris environments and eliminates the need for reconfiguration or reinstallation to migrate, update, or move applications.

"Application virtualization is fundamentally changing the way IT departments view application management," said David Roth, President and CEO, Trigence. "The current state of application management is inflexible, leaving most organizations with an overburdened data center marked by increased cost and inefficiencies. Our Series B financing allows us to accelerate the development of additional platform support for Trigence's application virtualization software to further prove that customers can gain control of how, when and where they run their applications to reduce costs, increase customer responsiveness and deliver a measurable business value."

With the space heating up and companies like Altiris getting acquired, the question becomes will Trigence be the next virtualization specialist at the application level to be acquired? Who knows. There are plenty of companies out there right now on the virtualization buying spree, looking for the next good deal to come along.

Posted by David Marshall on February 5, 2007 08:42 PM

February 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
VMware Reaches Out to SMB Market

TAGS: Virtualization Apps/Tools

VMware, well situated at the top of the virtualization mountain with its Fortune 500 customers, is once again extending its hand to the small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) in an effort to thwart pricing competition from XenSource and Virtual Iron.

The company has announced a new virtualization bundle designed to provide SMBs using the free VMware Server product with an easy and cost-effective way to manage it. For only $1,500, VMware is bundling together its VMware Server platform with its management tool, VirtualCenter.

According to VMware, there have been over 1.2 million downloads of VMware Server since it became available in July 2006. And of that number, 70 percent of the downloads were made by SMBs. While the VMware Server was certainly powerful enough to handle most of the requests being made by the SMB market, what was missing was a way to manage these virtual host servers and virtual machines much like what its bigger sibling, VMware ESX Server, had been enjoying.

SMBs using VMware Server can now use VMware VirtualCenter to gain this missing component - centralized management of their virtual infrastructure. Adding VirtualCenter for VMware Server adds the following benefits:
- Centralized Management - enables monitoring of virtual machines and hosts from a single interface, including the ability to set up alerts via email or pre-define actions based on thresholds such as CPU utilization.
- Rapid Server Provisioning - reduces time required to provision a server from hours or days down to minutes and provides pre-configured templates. Assuming a small-to-medium business may add five to 10 servers a year, the time savings quickly becomes significant.
- Reduced Hardware Costs - by deploying virtual machines instead of physical servers, customers do not have to purchase a new physical server every time they need to roll out a new workload or server. This can result in radically reduced total cost of hardware over a year.
To quickly migrate to the virtual world, SMBs can also use the free VMware Converter Starter, a migration tool optimized to easily and quickly migrate physical systems to a virtual infrastructure. VMware Converter Starter is available at no charge and can be downloaded, here.

To find out more information about the new virtualization management bundle, visit the following Web site.

Posted by David Marshall on February 5, 2007 08:06 PM

February 05, 2007 | Comments: (0)
rPath and Virtual Iron Push Forward with Virtual Appliances

TAGS: Podcast

Many people in the virtualization field are talking about virtual appliances, whether a customer, manufacturer, analyst or enthusiast, and they are speaking about the subject in both positive and negative ways. Still in its infancy, there is no doubt that virtual appliances are definitely making their mark on the industry. rPath recently received a large sum of funding to continue its acceleration of software appliances. And Virtual Iron is also throwing its hat into the virtual appliance ring as it announced its Virtual Iron Virtual Appliance Exchange. LISTEN!

Posted by David Marshall on February 5, 2007 07:54 PM

February 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Symantec Makes a Move by Acquiring Altiris

TAGS: General News

Symantec Corporation surprised many last week when it announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Altiris, Inc., a leading provider of IT management software that enables businesses to easily manage and service network-based endpoints, from mobile devices, laptops, and desktops to servers and storage assets. Under the terms of the agreement, Altiris stockholders will receive $33 per share of Altiris common stock in cash, resulting in a transaction value of approximately $830 million net-of-cash-acquired. The deal is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2007 and would represent Symantec's largest acquisition since its controversial announcement to acquire storage-software company, Veritas, for $13.5 billion back in December of 2004.

The deal has many industry analysts and solution providers watching closely. Most agree, the acquisition seems to have many synergies and makes a lot of sense at the product offering level, but what is being questioned is the dollar amount being offered and more importantly - the timing. Only a week earlier, Symantec announced plans to slash $200 million in operating costs. And so analysts question whether acquiring more technologies in different areas makes sense right now for Symantec or if they should instead focus on getting their own house in order. Symantec executives argue that they are indeed doing what needs to be done in order to put their house in order. The company has said that the deal is about focusing their business. On one side of the income statement is cost, but on the other side is revenue. And right now, Altiris seems to be in a pretty good place as it expects to hit $200 million in sales for its 2006 fiscal year which is up from 2005's total of $188 million.

With Microsoft declaring that security is going to be one of its next traveled frontiers, it only makes sense that Symantec strikes back at Microsoft in the IT asset management space. Symantec's acquisition of Altiris should bolster its position and leverage its strengths on the enterprise endpoint. Where Symantec helps businesses protect their endpoints with security, compliance and backup and recovery solutions, Altiris complements it by helping businesses manage their endpoints and by helping to configure their assets. And virtualization should be expected to play a larger role at Symantec as well. With the acquisition comes an innovative software virtualization technology, Software Virtualization Solution, which may prove critical to providing faster, simpler and more manageable deployments of PC applications. The technology will not only help to reduce support costs and streamline software operations, but it will allow Symantec to have an offering that will help it to counter Microsoft's SoftGrid solution which it recently acquired from Softricity.

"The most secure endpoint is a well-managed endpoint. The best protection must be complemented by the ability to remediate and address vulnerabilities that could be exploited," said John W. Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer, Symantec. "By combining the endpoint management solutions from Altiris with the security expertise from Symantec, we believe we can offer customers a more comprehensive solution to protect and manage the millions of connected devices that make up the fabric of today's global IT infrastructure."

"Today's IT departments are faced with constant pressures to manage spiraling IT complexity at the lowest possible cost. We have made it our goal to help businesses reduce the cost and complexity of IT, improve system and data security, and better align IT service with corporate objectives," said Greg Butterfield, president and chief executive officer, Altiris. "By combining our software solutions, services, and channel distribution strengths, Symantec and Altiris can offer our customers the 'total package' in endpoint management."

The product roadmap is still being worked out and won't appear until the second quarter when the deal is expected to close. But Butterfield doesn't anticipate any changes in his management makeup or his company's 1,000-strong work force. He expects that his existing team will remain in place, citing that Symantec recognizes the success that Altiris has earned and that they wouldn't want to shake that up.

Posted by David Marshall on February 4, 2007 09:42 AM

February 04, 2007 | Comments: (0)
LeftHand Networks, Open iSCSI and VMware

TAGS: General News

LeftHand Networks announced that their iSCSI SAN solution powered by SAN/iQ 6.6 has achieved VMware ESX Server 3 certification and is now listed on VMware's Storage / SAN compatibility guide.

LeftHand Networks attempts to offer its customers the ability to "break free" from vendor lock-in and give their customers the freedom to build enterprise-class storage solutions on their choice of hardware. The breadth of SAN/iQ powered platforms include the HP ProLiant DL380 server, IBM System x3650, LeftHand NSM 260 and NSM 160. The first x86 server to be certified with SAN/iQ and VMware Infrastructure 3 is the HP ProLiant DL380.

LeftHand's SAN/iQ complements VI3 with the following enterprise-class capabilities:
- VMware Infrastructure 3 enables the creation of new virtual machines to meet increasing infrastructure demands in the production data center or to create new environments for software development and testing.
  
  SAN/iQ complements this process by allowing users to clone storage volumes almost instantaneously and with minimal additional use of storage.
- VMware VMotion technology, a component of VMware Infrastructure 3, migrates running virtual machines with their operating systems and applications from one physical server to another with zero downtime, allowing users to balance workloads or perform server maintenance without affecting service levels.
  
  SAN/iQ offers similar storage functionality, allowing volumes to be moved from one cluster to another with zero downtime and without modifying the VMware environment.
- VMware High Availability (HA), another component of VMware Infrastructure 3, provides uniform business continuity for all applications by automatically re-starting virtual machines affected by server failure.
  
  SAN/iQ architecture allows organizations to distribute their storage networks so that access to the virtual machines' storage volumes can continue uninterrupted even through the loss of an entire data center.
LeftHand's clustered open iSCSI SAN technology combined with VMware Infrastructure 3 offers customers virtualized, highly available and completely scalable server and storage environments, while allowing customers to reduce overall IT costs and implement server consolidation strategies.

Still have questions? Check out LeftHand's SAN/iQ software demonstration, here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 4, 2007 07:05 AM

February 03, 2007 | Comments: (0)
VMware Celebrates Its Nine Year Anniversary

TAGS: General News

It might be hard to believe, but VMware recently celebrated its nine year anniversary, commemorating what it calls a "decade of innovation, excellence and phenomenal growth" - claims that are extremely difficult to deny, no matter whom you are or how hard you try.

As an example, the company produced the following tidbits of information to validate those claims:
- In 2006, VMware revenue increased 83 percent year-over-year to $709 million; VMware grew Q4, 2006 revenues 101 percent year-over-year to $232 million, placing it on an annual run rate of more than $900 million
- 43 percent of VMware customers deploy all or most of their new applications in VMware virtual machines, with most customers expecting to virtualize at least 50 percent of their IT infrastructure within three years
- 85 percent of VMware customers use VMware virtualization products in production environments
- 75 percent of VMware customers plan to upgrade their existing VMware environments to VMware Infrastructure 3 by mid 2007
- In 2006, VMware received 30 awards for innovation and product excellence, including eWEEK's award for being one of the most 25 influential products of the past 25 years
"We started VMware with the belief that virtualization was one of those rare technologies that could fundamentally change the established IT landscape and drive significant new value for customers and the industry in ways few could imagine," said Diane Greene, president of VMware. "The accelerating adoption of VMware products by customers around the world, the new market opportunities it has created for partners and its emergence as one of the highest-growth multibillion-dollar software sectors has made virtualization the most significant IT trend of this decade."

The company has a great nine year track record behind them, and the industry is just now really starting to take off. IDC estimates that 2.3 million virtual servers were deployed in 2006, compared to 7.7 million physical servers in the same year! And a recent IDC survey showed that 76 percent of companies are going to be adopting or planning to adopt x86 virtualization in the next 12 months. Add to that, Forrester estimates that 46 percent of the Global 2000 are either already using or will pilot virtualization within the next twelve months and 71 percent of them are increasing their spending on virtualization in the next 12 months.

When you see statistics like that, you have to wonder what VMware has planned for the next nine years. Happy anniversary!

Posted by David Marshall on February 3, 2007 09:54 PM

February 03, 2007 | Comments: (0)
United Devices' Annual Conference Adds Virtualization Thought Leaders

TAGS: Events and Awards

United Devices is hosting its third annual conference, dubbed UD:07, to be held on March 7th and 8th in Boston at the Sheraton Hotel near Copley Square.

This year's theme, "Grid in 2007: Virtual Reality", hopes to cut through the noise surrounding mainstream virtualization by showcasing practical implementations that prove value in the data center and managed services arenas.

A Who's Who of global virtualization innovators are planned for attendance. Early confirmed speakers at UD:07 include:
- BMC: Tom Bishop, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
- SAP: Roland Wartenberg, Platform Ecosystem Evangelist
- Bristol-Myers Squibb: Tim Wagner, Director, Scientific Computing Services
- Corus Automotive: Mike Twelves, Manager, KBE and IT Systems
- Hewlett Packard: Norm Lindsey, Chief Architect, Flexible Computing Business Unit
- Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC: Jeff Mathers, director, Technology Office Strategy & Delivery
- Raytheon: Les Stewart, Manager, Senior Principal Technologist, Raytheon Missile Systems IT
- Schrodinger: Peter Shenkin, Vice President
- Satyam Computer Services: Grid Computing Experts
- United Devices: Jikku Venkat, Chief Information Officer
- Economic Strategy Institute: Dr. Robert B. Cohen, Senior Fellow
- Open Grid Forum: Mark Linesch, President
- The 451 Group: William Fellows, Principal Analyst, and Steve Wallage, Director of Research
The conference is targeted toward business sponsors and executive decision-makers who want to connect with colleagues who are now deploying advanced virtualization strategies, including higher level automation in data centers and for managed services.

To register or find more information on the conference, visit the following Web site.

Posted by David Marshall on February 3, 2007 09:40 PM

February 03, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Parallels Announces Desktop for Mac RC2

TAGS: Desktop Virtualization

It looks like Parallels Desktop for Mac build 3150 RC2 is now ready and available for download.

Remember, this is a release candidate build. And while there may be plenty of new features or functionality in the product, it is still just a "candidate" and may not be the final set of features that will be found in the Final Release.

This latest build offers several important fixes to problems found in previous beta builds and also offers plenty of new features, some of which include:
- Improved USB 2.0 Support - Plug and play popular USB devices like external hard drives, printers, scanners and web cameras at full native speed. And finally, it adds support for iSight.
- Updated Coherence - The groundbreaking feature just got better!
  - The Windows Start menu is now shown if you click the Parallels Desktop icon in Dock as long as you have the "Show Windows Taskbar" option set to off.
  - The virtual machine starts in the same mode that it was powered off in during its previous use (Coherence, OS Window or Fullscreen).
  - A silent start of the virtual machine in Coherence mode is possible when starting Windows applications from Mac OS X.
  - Windows with rounded corners or those with unusual shapes (like Windows Media Player) now display correctly.
- Better Boot Camp support - Using a Boot Camp partition in Parallels Desktop is now easier than ever.
  - Since RC2, it is possible to utilize a Boot Camp partition that is not installed on the same disk as Mac OS X.
  - For advanced users, it is now possible to edit Boot Camp partition configurations via the VM's .pvs configuration file.
- Improvements made to the Transporter RC2 bundle - Use Transporter to migrate machines to a Parallels virtual machine.
The product has improved on its look and feel, increased graphic performance, and added plenty of bug fixes. To download the product or find out more information, visit the following Web site.

Posted by David Marshall on February 3, 2007 09:09 PM

February 03, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Reducing Data Center Costs and Complexity Using Virtual Storage and Virtual Servers

TAGS: Events and Awards

DataCore Software and Virtual Iron Software recently announced that DataCore's SANmelody solution would be a certified virtual storage solution on Virtual Iron's enterprise-class server virtualization products.

Now, both companies are showing off how the two products interoperate to help reduce both data center costs and complexity through a joint Webinar session.

Date and Time: Thursday, February 8, 2007 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (GMT -05:00, New York)
Panelist(s) Info: Tom Twyman, Systems Engineer, DataCore Software; Chris Barclay, Director of Product Management, Virtual Iron Software
Duration: 1 hour
Description: Combining DataCore Virtual Storage and Virtual Iron Virtual Servers for Cost-Efficient, High-Performance Virtualization

Virtual servers and virtual storage attack the same fundamental challenge - improving resource utilization and optimizing data center resources so that they can be readily deployed when and where they are needed. These solutions are especially powerful when are used in combination to create Virtual Infrastructure.

Virtual Iron and DataCore are delivering on this promise with enterprise-class virtual infrastructure management capabilities at a fraction of the cost of alternative solutions. This webcast will highlight the combined Virtual Iron and DataCore solution and how it enables users to drive down enterprise data center costs and create a more flexible and agile infrastructure that can respond to the needs of the business. The presenters will also demonstrate comprehensive capabilities for:
- Hot backup
- Rapid provisioning
- High availability with virtual servers and virtual storage
- Disaster recovery
- Automated capacity management
To enroll for this Webinar, click here.

Posted by David Marshall on February 3, 2007 05:02 PM

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