Archives for 2011

Oracle Launches New Oracle VM Template For MySQL Enterprise Edition

June 29, 2011 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

In an effort to enable more efficient and lower cost deployments of virtualized MySQL environments, Oracle has announced the first Oracle VM Template for MySQL Enterprise Edition.

The new Oracle VM Template for MySQL helps eliminate manual configuration efforts and risks by providing a pre-installed, pre-configured and certified software stack that includes Oracle VM Server for x86, Oracle Linux with the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel and MySQL Enterprise Edition.

By pre-integrating the world’s most popular open source database with Oracle Linux and Oracle Virtualization technologies, enterprise users and ISVs can quickly and easily deploy and manage a virtualized MySQL database server for Web and cloud-based applications.

“Oracle is committed to helping MySQL users more efficiently deploy and manage high-performance web and cloud-based applications at a lower cost,” said Tomas Ulin, vice president MySQL Engineering, Oracle. “With the introduction of the first Oracle VM Template for MySQL Enterprise Edition, customers can benefit from a fully integrated solution that is backed by Oracle’s world-class support, enabling faster deployments, increased reliability and higher uptime for MySQL applications in virtualized environments.”

Open Virtualization Alliance Gains 65 New Members

June 24, 2011 by Robin Wauters 2 Comments

The Open Virtualization Alliance, a consortium committed to fostering the adoption of open virtualization technologies, including Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), today announced broad industry support and adoption with the addition of 65 new members to the consortium.

With this, the consortium has achieved nearly ten-fold growth in membership since its establishment just one month ago, and today includes members across a wide spectrum of hardware, software, services and cloud computing businesses.

In May, BMC Software, Eucalyptus Systems, HP, IBM, Intel, Red Hat and SUSE announced the formation of the Open Virtualization Alliance. The goal of the alliance is to provide education, best practices and technical advice to help businesses understand and evaluate their virtualization options, including open source alternatives such as KVM. Since the formation of the consortium, leaders throughout the virtualization industry have quickly expressed strong interest in participating in the Open Virtualization Alliance.

Today, the following companies join as general members of the Open Virtualization Alliance:

Abiquo, AdaptiveComputing, Afore Solutions, Arista Networks, Arkeia, autonomicresources, B1 Systems, BlueCat Networks, Brocade, Carbon 14 Software, Cfengine, CheapVPS, Cloud Cruiser, CloudSigma, CloudSwitch, CodeFutures, CohesiveFT, Collax GmbH, Convirture, Corensic, Dell, enstratus, EnterpriseDB, Everis Inc., Fujitsu Frontech, FusionIO, Gluster, Inc., Grid Dynamics, Groundwork Open Source, HexaGrid Computing, IDT us, Infinite Technologies, Information Builders, Killer Beaver, LLC, Likewise, Mindtree Ltd, MontaVista Software, Morph Labs, nanoCloud, Neocoretech, Nicira Networks, Nimbula, novastorm, One Convergence, OpenNebula / C12G Labs, Providence Software (XVT), Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH, Qindel, RisingTide Systems, ScaleOut Software, Sep Software, Shadow Soft, Smartscale, StackOps, stepping stone GmbH, Storix, UC4, Unilogik, Univention, Usharesoft, Virtual Bridges, Vyatta, Weston Software Inc, XebiaLabs and Zmanda.

Security Virtualization Startup Raises $9.2 Million Series A

June 24, 2011 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Bromium, emerging from stealth mode to develop technology in the areas of virtualization and security, has announced it has closed a $9.2 million series A round of funding with Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Founded by Gaurav Banga, Simon Crosby and Ian Pratt, Bromium is focused on the delivery of infrastructure solutions that permit enterprises to safely embrace two major trends in IT: consumerization and cloud computing.

The Bromium Board of Directors is drawn from business leaders and technologists with extensive experience in infrastructure software, virtualization and security: Peter Levine, venture partner at Andreessen Horowitz; Frank Artale, managing director at Ignition Ventures; and George Kurtz, worldwide CTO and executive vice president at McAfee. Bromium has already attracted top engineering talent from Microsoft, VMware, Oracle, McAfee and NVIDIA.

Prior to founding Bromium, CEO Gaurav Banga was CTO and SVP, Engineering at Phoenix Technologies. Simon Crosby (co-founder and CTO) joins Bromium from Citrix, where he was CTO of the Data Center & Cloud Division. He joined Citrix through the acquisition of XenSource in 2007, which he also co-founded and led as CTO.

Ian Pratt (co-founder and SVP Products) is the chairman of Xen.org and was co-founder of XenSource. Prior to Bromium, he served as vice president of advanced products in the Virtualization and Management Division at Citrix.

Egenera Appoints John Humphreys VP of Marketing

June 24, 2011 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Egenera, provider of open converged infrastructure software for data center management, has appointed John Humphreys vice president of marketing.

Humphreys most recently was senior director, Data Center and Cloud Marketing at Citrix Systems. There he led the revitalization of the XenServer virtualization platform and had responsibility for developing marketing strategy, defining packaging and pricing, leading program execution, driving customer engagements and pre-sales activity, and acting as a primary spokesperson.

Prior to Citrix, Humphreys was vice president of the virtualization practice at IDC, a global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.

Humphreys will report to Egenera’s president and CEO, Pete Manca.

Egenera was founded in Massachusetts in 2000 and pioneered the blade server and converged infrastructure markets.

Its flagship product, Egenera PAN Manager Software, makes data centers more agile and reliable while reducing capital expenditures and operating costs.

Microsoft Virtualization Partner of the Year: M7 Global Partners

June 24, 2011 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Meet this year’s Microsoft Virtualization Partner of the Year: M7 Global Partners, a consortium of the US’ leading partner firms, AEC Group, Entisys Solutions/Agile360, Gotham Technology Group, IntraSystems, IPM, LPS Integration, and Right! Systems.

Prior to 2010, these seven partners were not collectively focused on virtualization, and as such, lacked a sales pipeline and few opportunities for success.

After joining forces, they were able to successfully shift their focus from VMware to Microsoft, becoming valuable assets to the US subsidiary, landing as managed partners and achieving their Microsoft Gold Certifications. M7’s vision to accelerate sales execution in desktop virtualization and cloud computing is the go-to desktop virtualization partner for their customers.

This vision incorporates the broad array of Microsoft’s offerings across virtualization, systems management, Windows client and cloud solutions including Office 365.

Finalists were Bechtle (Germany) and Citrix Systems (United States)

StorSimple Lands $10.5 Million Series C For Cloud Storage

June 24, 2011 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

StorSimple, provider of Enterprise Cloud Storage for Windows and VMware infrastructures, has announced a Series C round of funding to the tune of $10.5 million.

The round was led by Ignition Partners and included participation by all of StorSimple’s previous investors, including Index Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Redpoint Ventures. This latest round brings the company’s total funding to $31.5 million and will fund accelerating the growth of the company due to significantly increased demand both in the U.S. and internationally.

StorSimple securely and transparently integrates the cloud into on-premises applications and offers a single appliance that delivers high-performance tiered storage, live archiving, cloud based data protection and disaster recovery, reducing cost by up to 90 percent compared to traditional enterprise storage.

StorSimple is based in Silicon Valley.