Virtualization Strategies News, Analysis, White Papers and Case Studies on Virtualization Software and Hardware Strategies

Blade.org announced the results of a virtualization adoption survey which show that both large enterprises, and small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) have moved rapidly to adopt virtualization technologies using blade servers as their preferred hardware platform.

“Blade.org’s survey found that 82 percent of large IT organizations have implemented or are planning to implement virtualization on blade servers in the data center,” said Lisa Galish, Blade.org Marketing Committee chairperson. “However, even in SMB organizations, 28 percent have already virtualized on blade servers with an additional 36 percent in the planning stage. Blade servers have fundamental advantages in infrastructure consolidation, ease of management and cost reduction features that make them an ideal platform for virtualization technologies.” Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Virtualization Case Studies, Virtualization News, virtualization

Cisco introduced its first server last week in a bid to help unify the data centers into one cohesive unit. By extending its product line, Cisco will also capture a larger share of spending in the still hot and growing data center market.

The approach, called a Unified Computing System, takes new Cisco networking equipment and packages it with Cisco’s first blade server, storage hardware and virtualization software. It expands Cisco’s role beyond networking and into the unfamiliar territory of server manufacturing, which is dominated by partners IBM and Hewlett-Packard.

Cisco’s packaged system, which will go on sale in the second quarter, will provide an especially flexible and efficient architecture, enabling IT managers to get more out of their hardware. “It gives us a chance to be the leading company not just in communications but in IT,” said Cisco CEO John Chambers.

Chambers said the rise of virtualization in the last few years helped prompt Cisco to expand its role in the data center. Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Virtualization News

This week at AFCOM’s Data Center World event in Las Vegas, the AFCOM Data Center Institute announced it’s Five Bold Predictions for the data center.  These predictions are:

1)      By 2015, the talent pool of qualified senior level technical and managerial talent to run data centers will shrink by 45%. This is alarming when you consider the dramatic growth in business data processing. The economy can be to blame as training programs are often quick to be cut. The other challenge is fewer students are opting for collegiate programs in high density computing. Companies like Data Center Journal offer excellent data center training programs.

2)      By 2010, more than half of all data centers will have to relocate to new facilities or outsource some applications. This is great news for firms that build date centers as well as colocation and managed services companies Read More…

Posted under Cloud Computing, Data Center Virtualization, Virtualization News

IBM introduces its cloud computing portfolio this week and showcased a few partners and customers. Big Blue’s cloud strategy remains focused on the enterprise; so you can’t pay by the minute with credit cards, like you can with Amazon Web Services and other general purpose cloud offerings.

For enterprise IT, cloud computing promises dramatically better ease of use, economies of scale and much greater flexibility in sourcing and adapting to change. The technologies comprising cloud computing - virtualization, SOA, Software as a Service, are technologies that IBM claims to have invented or are least, well-known for excelling in. IBM intends to help its clients and partners realize their cloud computing goals in three principle ways:

• Build their own cloud environments for internal and external use
• Deliver cloud services and software to be consumed by clients and partners directly
• Build an ecosystem of developers, partners, vendors and universities to further cloud computing and standards adoption

The partnership and strategy include: Read More…

Posted under Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, Virtualization Products / Reviews

How can VMware improve the world’s leading virtualization conference?  Make it a virtual conference, of course!  VMware teamed with Jive Software to take the once-per-year VMworld conference and extended it (online) into a 365-day-per-year, always-on community.

Eric Nielsen, Director of Web Communities, at VMware sums it up like this, “We expanded the VMworld conference from a three day event for 15,000 to a 365 day/year destination for 50,000 virtualization professionals.

By extending the user conference to a year-round event virtualization professional can now access virtualization information and services from IT peers, academics, vendors, and analysts 24/7/365.

Intel

Read More…

Posted under Virtualization News, Virtualization Products / Reviews

BLADE Network Technologies, Inc. just announced that its 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet switches is now  equipped with VMready^TM — making it the first network virtualization solution that automates the enterprise data center for dynamic “live” migration of virtual machines (VMs).

Now data center architects can use BLADE’s VMready switches to overcome network-based obstacles. The inability for security policies to move in concert with the VM is inhibiting broader adoption of server virtualization in the enterprise data center. VMready watches the Virtual Machine environment to ensure that when a live VM moves from one physical host to another, the destination network has been prepared in advance — preserving essential security, access and performance policies.

“In order to fully realize the benefits of server virtualization, dynamic migration of workloads is required,” said Joe Skorupa, Research Vice President, Enterprise Network Services and Infrastructure, Gartner, Inc. “To enable this environment, the underlying network must be able to automatically reconfigure itself to ensure that the appropriate polices and resources are in place before a VM is moved to a new host.” Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Hardware Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Virtualization News, Virtualization Products / Reviews

OFFERS VIRTUALIZATION BENEFITS WITH OUT THE COST OF VIRTUALIZATION SOFTWARE

Rackable Systems, Inc. announced its new MicroSlice architecture, which eliminates the need for costly virtualization software and sets a new standard for price performance-per-watt. Basically, MicroSlice eliminates the need for virtualization software through what Rackable Systems calls “physicalization,” a hardware-based approach to virtualization which may improve the total cost of ownership.

“Rethinking the whole approach to an existing market is at times the best way to achieve the magic blend of reducing costs and improving performance”, said Mark Peters, senior analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. “Rackable Systems’ innovative mindset has achieved just that with its new building-block server architecture - delivering a package that is perfectly targeted for any users seeking to ‘do more for less’ in the current tight economic conditions”. Read More…

Posted under Server Virtualization, Virtualization News, Virtualization Products / Reviews, Virtualization Software, Virtualization Strategies

This week Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), a leading IT management research and consulting firm released a research report which provides data and advice on managing virtualization deployments more effectively. The report is called: “Best Practices in Virtual Systems Management (VSM): Virtualization Metrics and Recommendations for Enterprises”

As with all major IT revolutions before it, virtualization has introduced new and difficult management challenges. Traditional management tools and processes are less useful for virtualization deployments, and without new approaches to Virtual Systems Management (VSM), enterprises will suffer from increased downtime, higher costs, staff shortages, lack of flexibility, competitive disadvantage, and many other problems.

Enterprise Management Associates’ research indicates that better response times, faster provisioning and improved efficiency are just of the few improvements seen with the use of specific VSM toolsets and best practices. Here are few other results a company might expect from following VSM best practices: Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Hardware Virtualization, Storage Virtualization, Virtualization Case Studies, Virtualization News, Virtualization Software, Virtualization Strategies

Intel and Citrix are planning to bring desktop virtualization technologies to a wider audience in an effort to make it easier to run and manage virtual machines within a corporation.

Intel and Citrix Systems are looking to combine their virtualization and hardware management technologies into one overall offering that will make it easier to secure and manage multiple virtual machines running within one corporate client.

Under this agreement Intel and Citrix plans to produce a new class of virtualization solutions that optimize the delivery of applications and desktops to millions of Intel Core2 and Centrino 2 processor-based devices, dramatically reducing the cost of desktop management.  The hypervisor-based virtualization solution should bring both mobile and office users the benefits of centralized desktop virtualization with a rich, personalized PC environment.  As a result, mobile and office workers will be able to take advantage of enterprise-scale virtualization without sacrificing security, manageability, ease-of-use, performance or mobility. Read More…

Posted under Desktop Virtualization, Virtualization News, Virtualization Products / Reviews

Cisco Systems is preparing to enter the server market as early as March, according to an article in the New York Times. The article, which claims to have inside sources, said Cisco aims to sell a server combining hardware and virtualization software from Cisco and VMWare Inc.

Speculation on Cisco’s move into the server market has been going on for several months. Many experts agree that this is a logical extension for a company that has a dominate market share in other network products like switches and routers. One interesting thing to watch is how long time allies like HP and IBM will feel about Cisco competing with them in the server market.

Virtualization technology offer business tremendous benefits and a networking company like Cisco see an opportunity to produce a new, potentially disruptive class of hardware and software management systems that span an entire data center. With businesses looking to manage their data centers as a single entity rather than separate units, Cisco’s entrance in the server market could make them the core supplier of data center technologies (Cisco has a minority stake in VMWare – the leading supplier of virtualization software. Read More…

Posted under Data Center Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Virtualization News, Virtualization Products / Reviews