Virtualization.com

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

Robin Wauters

Microsoft Virtualization Partner of the Year: M7 Global Partners

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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

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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.

VMware Launches ‘VMware Ready’ Desktop Solutions Program

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VMware earlier this week announced the expansion of its VMware Ready Program for partners providing desktop virtualization solutions based on VMware View.

The new VMware Ready Desktop Solutions Program provides customers validated desktop virtualization solution architectures that meet VMware’s functional and scalability requirements and are delivered by qualified VMware solution providers.

As part of the VMware Ready Desktop Solutions Program, VMware and its partners validate the complete solution stack, including hardware solutions for compute, storage and network resources, and identify qualified delivery partners who can deploy and support an end-to-end desktop virtualization solution.

VMware plans to expand the VMware Ready Desktop Solutions Program to include solutions from qualified partners with proven expertise in additional targeted vertical markets including education and healthcare.

Cloud-based Systems Management Company ScaleXtreme Raises $11M

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ScaleXtreme, a cloud-based systems management company, today announced it has closed an $11 million Series B led by Ignition Partners with participation from previous investor, Accel Partners.

The new financing will be used to accelerate the rollout of additional product capabilities, and expand marketing and sales for ScaleXtreme’s new way of managing hybrid clouds.

ScaleXtreme’s product transforms the way IT admins manage their Amazon EC2, VMware virtual machine and physical server deployments. ScaleXtreme was founded by a team with deep expertise in enterprise software and systems management, including Bladelogic and VMware.

“There is a dramatic shift going on in the computing industry with the advent of virtualization and public cloud computing – and with this, there is a significant opportunity for some company to transform the management of the new computing landscape,” said Mulchandani, CEO of ScaleXtreme.

Frank Artale, managing director at Ignition, will join the board that includes Ping Li from Accel and Nand Mulchandani and Balaji Srinivasa from ScaleXtreme.

(Via TechCrunch)

Desktop Virtualization Market To Approach A Whopping $5 Billion In 2016, Says ABI Research

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According to a new study from ABI Research, the worldwide market for hosted virtual desktops is forecast to grow from about $500 million in 2009 to a cumulative total of nearly $5 billion in 2016.

North America and Europe will comprise the majority of the market for virtual desktops throughout the forecast period.

Larry Fisher, director of the firm’s Automotive, Energy and Emerging Technologies practice, says, “The VDI market will exhibit impressive growth in the next five years; buyers will principally consist of large enterprises looking to reduce their desktop support and management costs, and companies and organizations that need to lock data in the data center, either for compliance or security reasons.”

Release: Microsoft System Center Orchestrator 2012 Beta

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Microsoft has announced that its System Center Orchestrator 2012 Beta is now available for download and testing.

According to Microsoft, System Center Orchestrator 2012 lets you:

– Connect heterogeneous environments through integration

– Create custom integrations to any system using the Quick Integration Kit

– Realize benefits and value faster through flexible process workflows

– Improve service reliability across multiple tools, systems and departmental silos

– Free up scarce IT resources for work that adds real value to your business

– Reduce the number of manual and error-prone tasks and activities performed

The product comes from Microsoft’s Opalis acquisition.