Virtualization & Cloud Computing News [09.04.09] April 9, 2009
Posted by Roel Gydé in Application virtualization, Cloud Computing, Data Center Management, File Virtualization, I/O Virtualization, Memory Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Storage Virtualization & Storage, datacenter, desktop virtualization.Tags: BlueCat, Cisco, Citrix, Devon IT, ESX, StorMagic, Tidal Software, Veeam, Vimware View, XenDesktop
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- Thin clients from Devon IT Europe have been VMware View certified
- BlueCat launches its Proteus and Adonis products as virtual appliances for VMware ESX
- VMware View 3.0 has been arwarded a 7,5/10 by Infoworld Test Center (report), the last test of XenDesktop (version 2.0) resulted in 8.3 (report)
- Veeam introduces version 4.5 of nWorks Management Pack for integration in vCenter and SCCM (more)
- Cisco to buy Tidal Software, who have a focus on intelligent application management and automation solutions, which will be integrated into Cisco’s Data Center 3.0 view.
- StorMagic , who specializes iSCSI SAN management software for virtualized environments, launched an extensive channel program (more
Cisco Project California [Part IV - Unified Computing System] March 17, 2009
Posted by Roel Gydé in Application virtualization, Data Center Management, I/O Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Storage Virtualization & Storage, datacenter.Tags: Cisco, UCS, VMware
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So Project California has seen the light (previous post) … yesterday there was a gigantic-buzz across blogs, twitters and the web on Cisco’s UCS … Unified Computing System. A digest of the most important things-to-know …
· The system consists out of Fabric interconnects, Fabric extenders and Blade Servers, which work as 1 big unit within the data center. The Fabric Interconnect holds the “service profiles”, which are frameworks including paramets for power, cooling, network parameters, storage parameters, … These profiles are used for coordination and automation of each layer of the hardware stack (which includes the interconnects, the extenders, the NICs and the blade servers).
· The provisioning of the OS within a virtual machine or a physical blade is not part of the solution, in order to provision these OS and applications, the user will have to work with XML APIs.
· Cisco claims that they can reduce CAPEX with 20% and OPEX with 30%, this is not that surprising. A general automated and consolidated data center can obtain these ratios.
As this is a complete Cisco-centric-solution there are some catches involved:
· In order to maintain uptime it advised to have a cluster of Fabric Interconnects that work in an active/passive mode
· Cisco only supports VMware at present, although that certain reports claim that the solution will also be available for Hyper-V. The Nexus switch is included within the UCS solution but the Nexus works best with VMware
· What about vendor-lock-in?
Other items that have to be seen are:
· Pricing ! General availability of the solution is foreseen for Q2/09.
· The solution is aimed at server virtualization, what about solutions for application virtualization?
· The specifications of the blade servers
Additional information can be found at Cisco Press Releases, Cisco UCS Homepage, Data Center Knowledge, VMblog, Scott Lowe, Stephen Foskett,
Stay tuned for more …
Cisco Project California [Part III - the release] February 18, 2009
Posted by Roel Gydé in Server Virtualization.Tags: Cisco, EMC, HP, i7, IBM, VMware
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Cisco has been working on entering the servermarket for over the past months with their project California. The final product will probably be released to the public on March 16th in the States, this news surfaced in the shades of rumours about Cisco taking over EMC or VMware (recently Cisco has increased it capital with 4 billion USD through external financing).
Specs of the new blades servers that surface: include Intel Core i7 processors, 192GB Memory, PCI Express connectivity (providing access to Cisco Unified Fabric Architecture with direct communication between the blades and the storage servers. There will be a tight integration with VMware (Cisco owns around 1,6% of VMware at present), but it remains unclear if the VMware solution would be OEMed in the product
More on the following pages [InternetNews]
Cisco enters server market in March [Project California] January 20, 2009
Posted by Roel Gydé in Uncategorized.Tags: California, Cisco
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Reuters.com – 19/01/09 – 8.40PM (full article)
“… Cisco Systems Inc plans to start selling servers equipped with virtualization software as early as March, The New York Times reported on Monday. Analysts have said a new server product is likely to be aimed at data centers … But analysts have also said it could be a difficult move, noting that it would turn IBM and HP, with whom Cisco partners in selling its other network equipment, into rivals. …”
It is all about automation … [Part 2] January 5, 2009
Posted by Roel Gydé in Cloud Computing, Data Center Management.Tags: Cisco, SLauto, VDC-OS, Workflow Studio
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Following the article in Virtualization Review and our post on “It is all about automation”, John Urquhart (Market Manager for Cisco’s Data Center 3.0 Strategy) gives his view on automation and especially on cross-vendor and the future of the IT
” … It will work through accepted standards and protocols between components at all levels of the distributed compute stack. VDC-OS and Citrix Workflow Studio are pieces of the puzzle, but there is much work under way throughout the IT industry. … “
For that he is absolutely right, but what is more important is his view on the changing role of the system administrators.
” … I would also strongly recommend that system administrators begin to think about how they would automate their jobs. Better yet, how would you eliminate the need for the human-centric processes you use to manage VMs altogether, in favor of tight metrics-centric optimization policies? … “
When systems like Citrix Workflow Studio and VMware VDC-OS go mainstream it will be much more about managing the global infrastructure with proactive projects instead of the current often applied politic of break-fix.
One thing is for sure this will result in once again (as I already stated many times before) an IT infrastructure adopting to the business needs and Service Level Automation is looming around the corner. Providing the possibility to VARs, Integrators and Cloud Providers to focus on that where they are best at … strategical work and the future cloud providers are surely amongst them.
Cisco Project California December 19, 2008
Posted by Roel Gydé in Data Center Management, Server Virtualization, datacenter.Tags: California, Cisco, HP, Intel, Nehalem, Nexus, RedHat, VMware
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As already posted on the 4th of december, Cisco is eager to enter the data center server market with ‘project California’. More details arise …
Cisco has developed a blade server chassis that combines an Intel-based server, a switch and virtualization management capabilities in an integrated system. The project will probably go live in the spring of 2009 and will contain the Nexus 5000 switch (for network and storage), blade servers with Intel Nehalem processors and a virtualization solution.
Depending on the sources, the virtualization layer might be VMware or even RedHat, other sources indicate that California could be OS-agnostic.
Hewlett-Packard, meanwhile, is preparing its own two-in-one system, one that combines a ProLiant server and ProCurve switch, sources say. It’s expected to appear early in 2009. HP recently moved its ProCurve networking arm into its Technology Solutions Group to more closely align those businesses
Virtualization Industry News [04.12.08] December 4, 2008
Posted by Roel Gydé in Uncategorized.Tags: Cisco
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- Rumours remain in the market regarding Cisco’s project California, probably a project aimed at Cisco entering the x86 server market early 2009. There might be a formal announcement during VMworld Europe 2009.
- Third Brigade announced the availability of Third Brigade VM Protection, a free-of-charge software package that complements the security-hardened VMware platform and helps organizations achieve protection and compliance for VMware virtual machines (VMs) that are deployed in private or public cloud computing environments.
Virtualization Industry News [17.11.08] November 17, 2008
Posted by Roel Gydé in Application virtualization, Cloud Computing, Data Center Management, I/O Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Storage Virtualization & Storage, desktop virtualization.Tags: 3Lear, Adaptec, Azure, CentriServ, Cisco, Citrix, Computer Associates, devonIT, EMC, Emulex, Hitachi, HP, IBM, iSeries, Marvell Technologies, Mozy, OpenQRM, Pano Logic, Pano VDI, Parallels, Pi, Prestera CX, SaaS, Sun, Supermicro, Virtual Connect, Virtuozzo, VMware
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News:
- DevonIT and CentriServ announce the genearl availability of the Virtualization Starter Kit. The kit comes with DevonIT thin clients, connects to XenDesktop or VMware VDI and CentriServ enterprise assessment and consolidation services
- Microsoft is preparing new virtualization certifications – general Windows Server Virtualization exam is available now, while the exam for SCVMM will come available mid-December
- 3Leaf Systems announced that the company will showcase new silicon enabled virtualizationtechnology enabling dynamic resource utilization using commodity servers from SuperMicro Computer
- VMware ESX is going exclusively 64bit (more)
- OpenQRM 4.2 has been released
- Cisco will start Nexus 1000V beta program in December
- Adaptec RAID Controllers with Intelligent Power Management Matched with Hitachi Ultrastar Hard Drives and Supermicro Server Deliver Green Enterprise-class Storage Performance, savings up to 40% (more)
- Computer Associates expands Software-as-a-Service offering with 3 new offerings: CA Clarity PPM On Demand, CA GRC Manager On Demand and CA Instant Recovery On Demand. (more)
- Marvell Technologies introduced the Marvell Prestera CX family of high performance 40GbE and 100GbE switches. The Marvell Prestera CX family is designed to break new ground in integration, performance and features by providing 40GbE support, fiber channel over Ethernet (FCoE) support, Data Center Bridging (DCB), Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) features and a low latency mode. (more)
- Emulex has announced that its LightPulse LP21000 family of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) have been tested and found to be compatible for use with IBM Systems x3650(, x3655 and x3755 series servers. (more)
- Pano Logic announced Pano Virtual Desktop Solution (VDS) 2.5 (more)
- Parallels announced Virtuozzo Containers supports the new HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 10Gb Ethernet module and HP ProLiant BL495c virtualization blade server (more)
- EMC has taken its Mozy and Pi holdings – Pi being the stealth-mode mystery start-up it bought to acquire ex-Microsoft kingpin Paul Maritz before it fired Diane Greene and put him in charge of VMware – and Mozy being its year-old $76 million online consumer backup acquisition – and put them in a new cloud concern called Decho Corporation. Decho promises to introduce “new cloud-based services for individuals over time.” (more) and (more)
- Windows Azure has been in CTP sinds PDC2008, the solution is still in PDC but available to take the load. Pricing remains a mystery as well as the fact that only .NET applications can be ported to Azure. Furthermore the solution keeps on focussing on developpers, altough that there is information for business use (more).
HR news:
- Rich Green (Head of Software) leaves Sun
- James Urquhart becomes Marketing Manager/Technology Evangelist for Data Center Virtualization at Cisco Systems
- At Sun, Senior Vice President, Dave Douglas, has been appointed to lead the Company’s cloud computing efforts.
Cisco increases shares in VMware. November 3, 2008
Posted by Roel Gydé in Uncategorized.Tags: Cisco, VMware
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In a surprising move last week, Cisco announced that it was going to increase its equity stake in VMware. The company is going to purchase an additional 500,000 shares of VMware Class A common stock. The more interesting piece of this information is that Cisco’s new purchase is coming from shares held by Intel. And the amount? It looks like the price tag comes in at around $13.3 million.
Is Cisco looking at buying VMware?
Virtualization Industry News and News from StorageWorld October 13, 2008
Posted by Roel Gydé in Application virtualization, Cloud Computing, Data Center Management, I/O Virtualization, Server Virtualization, Storage Virtualization & Storage, desktop virtualization.Tags: Cisco, Clavister, Compellent, CorePlus, EMC, FalconStore, FCIA, HostedApps, Hyper-V, IBM, InMage Systems, LSI, Mellanox, QLogic, RHEL, Scalent Systems, SourceForge, StorageWorld, W2K8, Xiotech
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- Scalent Systems announces provisioning of RHEL on bare metal and Xen
- Compellent to Offer Automated Business Continuity with Live Volume (more)
- Cisco teams up with QLogic to offer end-to-end virtualization (more)
- Clavister releases secure OS CorePlus 9.10 with virtualization (more)
- SourceForge released HostedApps (more)
- FalconStore supports Microsoft W2K8 Server Failover Clustering & hyper-V (more)
- LSI Unveils Powerful Next-Generation Software for Centralized Storage Management (more)
- Mellanox ConnectX 10GigE Mezzanine Adapter for IBM BladeCenter Is Blade.org Compliant (more)
- FCIA to Demonstrate 8GFC and Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE) At Storage Networking World (more)
- Xiotech Expands Family of Application-Driven Storage Management (more)
- InMage Systems Announces New Version of Flagship DR-Scout Disaster Recovery Software (more)
- EMC Introduces its First Switch for Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE) (more)
- EMC Announces Support for SNIA SMI-S V1.3 Across EMC Symmetrix and EMC Clariion Storage Platforms (more)
VMworld 2008 – Vendor announcements September 17, 2008
Posted by Roel Gydé in Uncategorized.Tags: Altor Networks, BakBone, CA, Catbird, Cisco, Devon IT, Forge 2.0, Platsepin, Tidal Software, vConverter, VDM, Vizioncore, vSecurity
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Todays vendor annoucements:
- Tidal Software Announces Enterprise Job Scheduling for VMware enabling resource utilization
- Altor Networks Announces Interoperability With Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtualization Switch
- Devon IT confirms certification for VMware VDM (or should that be VMware View)
- Computer Associates will provide integrated virtualization management through VMware Ready
- BakBone Netvault now also has a VMware Plugin
- Vizioncore releases vCoverter 4.0 for P2V and V2V
- Catbird launches vSecurity 2.0
- Platespin released Forge 2.0
VMworld 2008 – Industry News in the shadow of VMworld September 16, 2008
Posted by Roel Gydé in Uncategorized.Tags: Alive, application management, Appsense, BMC, Cisco, compliancy, Configuresoft, Datacore, DMTF, Elastra, Environment Manager, health monitoring, Integrie, iQ2850 iSCSI, iQstor Networks, NX-OS, OVF, Reflex Security, security, service manaement, Virtual Iron, Virtualization Management Center, VMAN, vmSight, VN-Link
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What has happened besides the Keynote Session at Vmworld, today in the world of Virtualization:
- DTMF has announced VMAN (Virtual Manaement Initiative and released OVF (more info here)
- Cisco has announced the Vitual Switch …
Cisco announces the VN-Link initiative. VN-Link is delivered through the virtual switch Nexus 1000V, software built on NX-OS, that plugs into ESX (4) and that can be configured through the familiar Cisco CLI. Availability is foreseen for 1H2009, you can enroll for a beta program here. Furthermore the solution will be open to 3rd parties, more information to come in the second keynote tomorrow.
- iQstor Networks’ iQ2850 iSCSI storage system has been certified for use with VMware Infrastructure
- vmSight Partners with Virtual Iron for Virtual Infrastructure and Service Management (add. info)
- Appsense release Environment Manager 8 for VMware (add. info)
- Configuresoft announces free utility to assure compliance of VMware ESX Deployments (add. info)
- Datacore will unveil four new important features within SANmelody/symphony
- Elastra joins VMware Ready program to deliver enterprise cloud application management (add. info)
- BMC and VMware will be expanding their partnership in automation and control
- Integrien previews Alive with features for VMware to remotely monitor the health of the VI (add. info)
- Reflex Security Inc. will release Virtualization Management Center (VMC) (add. info)
