Virtualization.com

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

Robin Wauters

Release: Fedora 10, Including Virtualization Improvements

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The Fedora Project, a Red Hat sponsored and community-supported open source collaboration project, today announced the availability of Fedora 10, the latest version of its free open source operating system distribution. Fedora 10 features numerous technologies and continues to lay the groundwork for derivative open source distributions throughout the enterprise.

Since its inception, Fedora has adopted a leadership role in the development of open source software and continuously demonstrates its potential across the enterprise. This community of users and developers have blazed the trail in key feature development and actively forms the roadmap for open source technologies found in many platforms, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Fedora 10, the tenth release in five years, features substantial virtualization improvements for remote installation and management of storage provisioning. These features will make system administration of virtual machine hosts and guests easier and more capable of automation, especially as they are integrated into Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Additionally, Fedora 10 includes NetworkManager connection sharing, allowing laptop users with an Ethernet or mobile broadband connection to provide Internet routing to others through the laptop wireless interface, for instant collaboration anywhere, anytime.

Devon IT Installs Thin Client / Virtualization Test Center In China

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Devon IT announced it will launch a thin client and virtualization test center at its China headquarters in Beijing. Customers can test the latest Devon IT thin clients working with virtualization software, mirroring the company’s Server-Desktop Solution Center at its U.S. headquarters.

For the first time, IT personnel in China will be able to test Devon IT’s latest thin client technologies against traditional PC environments. The test center will feature Devon IT’s newly launched green TC2 thin client series and the SafeBook LVO, which is built on the Lenovo ThinkPad and compatible with all Lenovo docking stations and accessories. Virtualization software from VMware and server solutions from IBM will round out the testing facility. In addition, the HC10 workstation blade will be available for demos in their facility. The HC10 is a remote workstation blade that delivers breakthrough graphics performance and a full PC experience. It connects to the TC10/CP20 using the PC-over-IP protocol, a technology that changes the desktop computing model by enabling desktop consolidation benefits to be realized across the enterprise.

Microsoft System Center Service Manager Beta 1 Made Available

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From the Microsoft System Center team blog comes the news that Microsoft System Center Service Manager Beta 1 is now available.

I’m pleased to announce that the new beta of System Center Service Manger is now available. This beta includes the updated infrastructure components that will both deliver the performance we are targeting for the release and support our objective of delivering an IT service desk that is tightly integrated with the rest of the System Center product family.

How to Get the Bits: You can access the beta on Microsoft Connect, where you will first need to fill out a nomination survey. Once you’ve completed the survey, you will see the Service Manager beta connections page, which provides links and instructions for downloading.

As a reminder the objectives of Service Manager are to deliver an IT service desk that provides:

  • Built in service management best practices
  • Simple customization and extensibility
  • Common platform and workflows across System Center

You can download a whitepaper outlining the vision for Service Manager here.

Key capabilities available for testing in this beta release include:

  • Administrative tasks such creating users and groups
  • Change management activities such as creating and monitoring the progress of requests
  • Creating and viewing configuration items (CIs)
  • Editing incident notification templates or workflows
  • Create incidents and editing the incident (and problem) workflow
  • Integration with System Center Configuration Manager

We’re excited to make this beta available publically and will be delivering a second beta in the middle of 2009. Until then I hope you enjoy this important step on the journey to expand the System Center family to include a strong Service Desk capability

Visit the Connect site to download and start trying out Service Manager today.

Industry Moves: VMware And Virtual Iron Lose Key Executives

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VMware has lost a key executive today with the departure of Nand Mulchandani, former Senior Director of Security Products, who has decided to take on a job as CEO for OpenDNS instead of staying on at the troubled virtualization leader.

Virtual Iron has lost its Director of Corporate Marketing Tim Walsh, who started his own consulting business.

VDIworks2Go, Because Mobile Workers Need Virtual Desktops Too

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VDIworks today introduced VDIworks2Go, a software solution that helps the mobile workforce capitalize on the use of virtual desktops. With VDIworks2Go, workers access a centralized virtual desktop from their laptop, and then can take it with them, allowing them to fully benefit from the security, total cost of ownership and management advantages presented by a centralized desktop computing infrastructure on the go.

VDIworks2Go users will be able to select either “disconnected” or “hosted” modes. The disconnected mode will stream the virtual machine onto the laptop so that the user can leave the office and take their virtual desktop with them.
VDIworks2Go will be available in late Q4 2008 and will be priced on a per-seat basis. Laptops equipped with VDIworks2Go must operate a processor with 1.6GHZ or higher of processing power, must contain 2GB or more of RAM, and should contain 6-8 GB of free storage to host a typical VM.