Robin Wauters

eG Innovation has announced the immediate availability of the eG Enterprise Virtual Appliance.

Designed to monitor virtual and physical IT infrastructures, the eG Enterprise Virtual ApplianceTM is a fast and easy way to deploy eG’s award winning performance monitoring software as a single pane of glass to gain end-to-end visibility across heterogeneous network, server and applications in an IT infrastructure.

The eG Enterprise Virtual Appliance is a pre-configured version of the full eG Enterprise SuiteTM that includes the eG Manager, a Java Development Kit, an Oracle Express database and an eG agent. Initially offered for and fully tested on VMware vSphere, the eG Enterprise Virtual Appliance was built using VMware Studio and is provided as an OVF file.  The eG Enterprise Suite has been validated as VMware Ready.

Administrators can also use the eG Enterprise Virtual Appliance to monitor their physical infrastructures. With support for monitoring 10+ operating systems, 5+ virtualization platforms, and 85+ applications, the eG Enterprise Suite offers broad infrastructure coverage.

Whether monitoring a virtual or physical infrastructure, the eG Enterprise Virtual Appliance is priced at $2,000 for each physical server to be monitored, regardless of the number CPUs/sockets, or operating systems.  No agents are needed on the virtual machines or virtual desktops being monitored.

There is no time limit for the eG Enterprise Virtual Appliance, which is installed as a download from the eG Innovations website. However, a separate license key is needed to activate the eG Manager.  For small infrastructures (up to 10 physical servers), the eG Manager can be configured to store performance metrics using the built-in database within the virtual appliance.  For larger installations (10 servers or more), the eG Manager can be configured to use any external database server to store performance metrics.

Layerboom Systems has unveiled the BoomBox, a virtualization appliance for creating and managing private and public cloud computing environments.

Layerboom’s BoomBox is a new turnkey device that makes cloud computing much simpler, more affordable and far less time consuming. Now companies can benefit from virtualization by manipulating their own server clouds within minutes and at a fraction of the cost, using this latest technology.

Layerboom is marketing the BoomBox to hosting companies, data centers, SMBs and enterprise companies seeking to increase their IT capability and productivity by sharing server resource pools to provide both cost efficiencies and high availability. So far, the Vancouver-based company has generated sales in several Asian and North American markets. In addition, Layerboom has been selected to present at “Under the Radar” as one of the top 20 up and coming cloud computing companies this April in San Francisco.

As the only virtualization appliance on the market, the BoomBox offers many advantages over traditional cloud computing software solutions and service providers. The Boombox is a complete solution, not only powering cloud environments, but enables its users to manage and monitor its server infrastructure as well. It is designed to be compatible with all server hardware with virtualization extensions, and can fit into nearly any small business, corporate or hosting environment. A single appliance can manage up to 100 physical servers using a central management dashboard which includes everything required to manage a virtual server cloud.

The BoomBox is also fast and easy to use. Virtual servers can be managed in minutes compared to traditional cloud solutions which can take months to create. The appliance provides a central management dashboard which can be used to manage virtual and physical infrastructure. Managing the cloud can be done remotely and dynamic bootstrapping of physical servers means increasing capacity is as simple as plugging in new hardware.

Layerboom’s powerful new appliance is the most affordable enterprise-class virtualization solution available. Starting at just $3,500 per unit, companies do not need to incur extra costs for software, license fees or IT professionals. The pricing model is simple with no hidden fees. Competing cloud computing solution providers charge more than double the price of the BoomBox for a service that doesn’t come close to its flexibility and efficiency.

Zenoss has announced the beta availability of a new service assurance product that delivers end-to-end monitoring for private and public-clouds deployed on the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS).

With Zenoss Business-to-Blade monitoring for Cisco UCS, enterprises and service providers are now able to quickly and cost-effectively deploy a unified operations console for their UCS-based services.

Details:

• Zenoss’ service assurance offering for Cisco UCS automatically discovers, interconnects and monitors the entire UCS environment from “Business-to-Blade”. Components covered include: UCS internals (service profiles, chassis, blades, interconnects, and other components), external networking, storage, virtualization platforms, operating systems, middleware, applications, and end user services.
• For each of these elements, Zenoss provides real-time performance, availability, and event management, along with configuration and workload dependency tracking. As service relationships in the environment change in real time, Zenoss automatically identifies the impact and updates its service dependency map.
• With Zenoss, UCS users benefit from a unified operations console that provides real-time health for their UCS-based services along with integrated drill-down for rapid problem resolution and automated remediation.
• With its unique commercial open source approach, Zenoss offers a flexible, cost-effective offering that is backed by world-class support services.
• In addition to Cisco UCS monitoring, Zenoss also provides broad coverage of many Cisco technologies including routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, unified communications and TelePresence.
• The Cisco UCS management capabilities are included as part of a Zenoss Enterprise subscription. General availability is set for later this month.

Citrix Systems announced yesterday that NASA has incorporated Citrix XenDesktop with high-definition HDX technology into the recently launched Crew Support LAN, which provides astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) with direct, private access to familiar desktop applications and websites from any location, including outer space.

The new network incorporates virtual desktops powered by XenDesktop and WAN optimization technology from Citrix Branch Repeater to ensure simpler communications that are both reliable and secure. The project is part of a broader effort to enhance the quality of life of astronauts during long-duration missions by helping to ease the isolation associated with life in a closed environment.

The system was first used last month by Expedition 22 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer when he posted the first unassisted update to his Twitter account from space. Previously, limited bandwidth and significant latency meant that Tweets had to be emailed to the ground and shared manually with ground personnel before they could be sent to the astronaut’s family members. The new desktop virtualization solution gives the ISS crew unprecedented, direct access to vital personal communications tools such as Twitter and the ability to browse the web, while mitigating the existing latency of network communication from space.

With XenDesktop, virtual desktops are managed and secured centrally in the datacenter located on the ground, and can be accessed by the ISS crew using laptops located on the space station. XenDesktop with Branch Repeater help optimize the delivery of virtual desktops and applications to the ISS crew, dramatically reducing bandwidth requirements and optimizing performance for high latency satellite communications. Astronauts simply connect their laptop to a power source on board and log in to receive a familiar Windows desktop experience that’s personalized to each user, and makes it easy to securely access any application, including personal email as well as popular internet sites like Twitter.

From the Unidesk Virtual Desktop Management blog:

“Our new web site went live this week with complete information about Unidesk® virtual desktop management software! It’s no longer a secret how our desktop layering technology reduces VDI storage costs, delivers a fully personal user experience (including support for user-installed applications), and simplifies provisioning, patching, and application delivery – all with one solution.

Check out the videos, screen shots, and analyst reports. Sign up for one of our weekly demo webinars.Locate a Unidesk Solution or Consulting Partner. Or, find upcoming events featuring Unidesk so you can meet us in person.”