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News and insights from the vibrant world of virtualization and cloud computing

Robin Wauters

VMware Debuts vCenter AppSpeed, vCenter Chargeback and vCenter Lab Manager 4

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VMware today announced advancements in virtualization management with the general availability of two new products: VMware vCenter AppSpeed and VMware vCenter Chargeback. VMware also announced today a major release of VMware vCenter Lab Manager 4. These new products simplify and automate key IT processes such as application performance monitoring, chargeback, and management of dev/test environments to increase IT productivity in the datacenter – delivering more value to customers as they scale out their virtual environments.

Generally available today, VMware vCenter AppSpeed provides service-level reporting and proactive performance management for multi-tier applications running in virtual machines. AppSpeed gives IT administrators visibility into how application performance depends on the different tiers of virtual and physical infrastructure. Easy to install and non-intrusive, VMware vCenter AppSpeed discovers, monitors, and reports within minutes of installation/download, helping customers:

  • Increase application performance and uptime
  • Troubleshoot and resolve performance issues more quickly, saving hours of administrative time
  • Virtualize more machines at a faster rate

VMware vCenter AppSpeed is available for $1250 per processor.

Also generally available today, VMware vCenter Chargeback ensures accountability across the business by allocating and reporting on costs associated with the use of virtual infrastructure. With VMware vCenter Chargeback, multiple factors such as cost-based models and fixed costs can be mapped to datacenter resources and then applied across cost centers to ensure proper business alignment. VMware vCenter Chargeback helps customers:

  • Provide business units with a clear view into resources consumed and their associated costs – enabling “showback” of valuable information, even for organizations not yet ready to chargeback to the business
  • Automatically create detailed billing reports that can be submitted to business units within an organization
  • Transition the IT environment from a cost center to a value center

VMware vCenter Chargeback is available for $750 per processor.

VMware vCenter Lab Manager 4, first introduced in 2006 and now in its fourth generation, provides IT with the ability to create and manage an internal cloud for dev/test, providing higher service levels to users through self-service access to resources needed for development, test, staging and deployment of complex, multi-tier applications. With VMware vCenter Lab Manager, IT can give users on-demand, role-based access to a shared library of pre-configured multi-VM environments, eliminating the need for repetitive system setup and teardown, while enabling IT to maintain security and full administrative control.

The new features in VMware vCenter Lab Manager 4 include:

  • Unification with VMware Stage Manager, creating a single solution to encompass multiple use cases including streamlined application delivery from development to production; simplified release management; and better training, support and online demo environments.
  • Next-generation network fencing capabilities to better support teams working on multiple instances of extremely large-scale application environments
  • Support for both ESX and ESXi form factors to give IT administrators more deployment choices for internal cloud resources.

VMware vCenter Lab Manager helps IT reduce dev/test infrastructure costs and administrative overhead, while providing users with improved team collaboration, accelerated workflows, and faster time to market for new or updated applications. VMware vCenter Lab Manager is available for $1,495 per processor.

Pano Logic Releases Pano System 2.7

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Pano Logic, today announced the newest version of their desktop virtualization solution, Pano System 2.7.

The new release provides IT administrators with new policy-based installation and remote management capabilities, as well as increased scalability, making deploying and managing virtual desktops much easier.  This release also adds support for the new VMware’s vSphere 4 virtualization infrastructure.

Pano System 2.7 offers a number of new features which enhance or enable new capabilities for:

  • Updates to supported VMware infrastructure:  added support for the new VMware vSphere 4 ESX, ESXi and vCenter Server 4 components along with continuing support VMware VI3 and VMware View Manager 3.1.
  • Increased Scalability: making scalability easier to implement and twice as fast when using VMware vCenter to scale out virtual desktop architectures;
  • Policy-based installs and updates: performing group policy installs and updates of the Pano Direct Service seamlessly and automatically, and allowing for Pano Manager to also be updated from within the administrator interface;
  • Remote user logoff and disconnect commands: enabling administrators to use the Pano Manager interface to logoff and disconnect users accessing their desktop virtual machines (DVMs) via Pano Devices for one-console management; and,
  • Expanded USB device support: broader support for USB devices using native Windows drivers.

Pano System 2.7, including the Pano Device and backend software, is available now with pricing starting at $329 per desktop for the current chrome finish Pano Device – it is also now available with the Pano Device in a black finish at just $319 per desktop   The optional Pano Remote USB key provides remote access to Pano virtual desktops and is priced at $35 per user.  The Pano System running on VMware’s new vSphere 4 Essentials editions can provide a complete virtual desktop offering for under $500 per desktop.

DataCore Introduces Advanced Site Recovery Software

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DataCore, provider of storage virtualization solutions, has launched its Advanced Site Recovery (ASR) solution for virtual and physical IT infrastructures.

This new component of DataCore’s comprehensive business continuity portfolio enables businesses to embrace Distributed Disaster Recovery (D-DR) that allows organizations to cost-effectively spread disaster recovery (DR) responsibilities across several smaller sites. ASR builds on DataCore’s universal storage virtualization software to move IT operations from a central site to one or more distributed contingency locations – and back again. Additionally, the solution makes no distinction between physical and virtual servers, unifying their DR operations in a common, automated process. DataCore’s Advanced Site Recovery solution can be seen this week in booth #301 at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans.
Advance Site Recovery software is available today through DataCore ASR-certified implementation partners – starting at $2,000 per site.

Taking machines from one site and replicating them to another site before a calamity unfolds is not new. But buyer beware. Many other disaster recovery products are limiting in that they assume recovery, from one environment to an identical or very similar environment or they support only a subset of the infrastructure. Often physical servers are not supported or require a separate solution from applications and virtual servers. DataCore ASR enables users to execute site recovery operations in a way that is fundamentally different from existing solutions in the marketplace today by bringing the data center together into single solution.

ASR is a key component of DataCore’s comprehensive business continuity portfolio. It automates and radically simplifies how one or more, smaller, remote IT facilities take over workloads from a central site in the event of a disaster or scheduled outage. Rather than attempt to fully recreate the central datacenter at another major site, ASR can distribute responsibilities for keeping the business going among a few remote offices and branch offices (ROBO) based on business and operational capabilities. ASR also takes care of returning control of the workloads to the central IT site when the main IT center is deemed capable of accepting them.

DataCore ASR allows organizations to leverage readily available IT assets between different sites, to minimize or eliminate business disruptions and data loss attributed to planned and unforeseen site outages.

Advance Site Recovery software is available as of July 13, 2009 through DataCore ASR-certified implementation partners. The ASR software for DataCore’s storage virtualization starts at $2,000 per site.

Propalms Plots A New Virtual Desktop Solution

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Propalms has announced some details of its current development project which is due to be completed in Q3 of 2009.

Building on years of delivering applications in the Terminal Services arena, Propalms are due to release a new product to the market, Propalms VDI. Propalms VDI is a highly scalable Virtual Desktop solution capable of provisioning, managing, and brokering connections to virtual and physical machines running various client operating systems.

“With our Terminal Services and VDI solutions we feel that we are ideally placed to offer customers the right solution for their application delivery requirements, and we see the VDI market an ideal growth area for Propalms.” Stated Owen Dukes CEO, Propalms Inc.

Release: Free ‘Express’ Version Of Citrix Essentials for Microsoft Hyper-V

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Citrix has unveiled a new free Express Edition to its Citrix Essentials for Microsoft Hyper-V lineup. The new Express Edition is immediately available for download and includes Citrix StorageLink technology. With StorageLink, Windows administrators can dramatically simplify their storage management processes with quick and easy storage configuration and provisioning for their Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and System Center virtual infrastructures. Citrix Essentials helps administrators take full advantage of powerful storage-based features like deduplication, thin provisioning, cloning, snapshots and replication – features that otherwise hide behind layers of proprietary, specialized virtualization storage file systems.

The new free Express Edition of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V is designed specifically for Windows IT professional in the early phases of Hyper-V adoption. It will allow them to take advantage of the benefits of shared storage with Hyper-V and simplify storage management in virtual server environments.
The StorageLink technology featured in all editions of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V provides Windows IT Professionals with the tools necessary to easily manage Hyper-V storage in iSCSI and Fibre Channel (FC) SAN environments, enabling them to leverage advanced storage technologies from leading storage vendors that deliver powerful features for performance, storage efficiency, and business continuity. Industry estimates have shown that by applying storage-saving technologies like deduplication and thin provisioning , Hyper-V customers can often shrink their storage footprint by upwards of 50 percent depending on the nature of their workloads. In cases where virtual machines (VMs) are highly duplicated, like virtual desktop images, many have seen a nearly 90 percent reduction in storage consumption.

The Express Edition of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V supports up to two Hyper-V servers and one storage array. Organizations that download the free Express Edition of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V can easily upgrade to the Enterprise or Platinum Editions. Listed at $1500 and $3000 per server, respectively, the Enterprise and Platinum Editions add dynamic server provisioning, automated lab management, automated stage management, and workflow orchestration.

CA Expands Offerings for Virtualized Data Centers and Private Clouds

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CA recently announced an new strategy for optimizing IT services by improving the management of next-generation virtualized data centers and private clouds. CA’s solution for unified business service assurance and automation will involve coupling comprehensive availability and performance management for VMware vSphere 4 environments and Cisco virtualized network switches.

CA is broadening the scope of CA Spectrum Infrastructure Manager, CA eHealth Performance Manager and CA Spectrum Automation Manager to encompass in one fully-integrated, end-to-end management solution both physical and virtual server and network environments, as well as databases, voice and unified communications systems, and other networked applications. The products are being enhanced to support VMware vSphere 4 and the Cisco Nexus 1000V distributed virtual software switch, which is an integrated option in VMware vSphere 4. The extensive solution will help enable customers to easily and coherently manage these environments through one user interface and within a powerful unified information model.

CA aims to reduce the complexity of managing fast-growing, dynamic virtual and physical environments by bringing a consistent user experience across end-to-end infrastructure management. Virtualization offers impressive server consolidation-related cost savings, and customers cite the need to reduce management complexities that result from disparate tools and fragmented teams. Moreover, to benefit from hybrid cloud architectures, enterprises and service providers have to enhance network performance visibility in context of server performance.

CA Spectrum Infrastructure Manager and CA eHealth Performance Manager’s support for VMware vSphere 4 and Cisco Nexus 1000V will deliver patented event correlation and root cause analysis that reduces “noise” by suppressing symptomatic alarms. The products will also deliver patented “deviation-from-normal” proactive performance management of virtual environments that helps identify performance issues before users and services are impacted. In addition, they are designed to deliver live interactive reporting for troubleshooting, as well historical trend reports for capacity planning reports.

CA’s object model will include a consolidated hierarchical view of VMware vCenter Server hosts, VMware vSphere 4 hosts, data centers, clusters, resource pools, virtual switches and virtual machines, all integrated with the existing physical infrastructure. This model-based management, resource monitoring approach will help reduce costs and increase staff efficiency by correlating physical and virtual data across the infrastructure to speed time to problem identification and resolution.

An enhanced automated discovery of the integrated physical and virtual network and systems environment will minimize manual efforts and help ensure an accurate understanding of the virtualized infrastructure.

CA Spectrum Infrastructure Manager and CA eHealth Performance Manager will also detect and track VMware VMotion migrations, dynamically updating the object model to reflect the most current state of the infrastructure. This feature is designed to provide up-to-date and real-time views of the integrated physical and virtual infrastructure without manual intervention.

CA Spectrum Infrastructure Manager’s patented Inductive Modeling Technology RCA is being extended to isolate faults to physical servers and intelligently suppress symptomatic alarms on virtual machines. This will deliver only actionable alerts to IT operations, while correlating symptomatic alarms to the root cause and identifying virtual entities impacted by physical infrastructure failures.

Customers will be able to gain even more business value by using CA Spectrum Infrastructure Manager and CA eHealth Performance Manager in conjunction with CA Spectrum Automation Manager, the core of CA’s powerful business-driven automation solution. The ability to utilize real time inputs from CA Spectrum Infrastructure Manager and CA eHealth Performance Manager to dynamically provision and de-provision physical and virtual assets will be instrumental in customers’ efforts to increase business agility, service quality and control, as well as reduce risk and human error, minimize costs, and improve IT efficiency.