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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.

Sun Microsystems Unleashes VirtualBox 3.0, Adds Many Server Virtualization Features

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Sun Microsystems today announced a new version of Sun VirtualBox, its cross-platform virtualization software. VirtualBox 3.0 is capable of creating and running multi-processor virtual machines that can handle heavyweight server-class workloads, and also delivers enhanced graphics support for desktop-class workloads, reinforcing VirtualBox’s position as one of the world’s most popular virtualization platforms.

Many multi-threaded server-based workloads, such as database and Web applications, can benefit from Symmetric Multiple Processing (SMP) systems, which contain multiple CPUs. VirtualBox 3.0 can now support virtual SMP systems with up to 32 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) in a single virtual machine. With this major enhancement, VirtualBox software can be used to run not only desktop workloads on client or server systems, but also demanding server workloads.

A key component of Sun’s industry-leading desktop-to-datacenter virtualization portfolio, VirtualBox software has been rapidly growing in popularity, surpassing 14.5 million downloads and 4 million registrations worldwide, as well as more than 25,000 downloads a day. A mere 50 megabyte download, VirtualBox software is incredibly compact and efficient and installs in just a few minutes.

New server features of VirtualBox 3.0 software include:

  • Up to 32 vCPUs per guest to accommodate heavyweight data-processing workloads.
  • Hypervisor enhancements for SMP to enable optimum performance.
  • Updated API platform designed to be the basis of the community-driven VirtualBox Web Console project, which is coming soon to allow IT administrators to manage their datacenters from a Web console. This project is based on the popular Python language.

New desktop features of VirtualBox 3.0 software include:

  • Microsoft Direct3D support for Windows guests, which enables graphically intensive Windows applications, like computer modeling, 3D design and games software, to run in a virtual environment.
  • Support for version 2.0 of the Open Graphics Library (OpenGL) standard. As a result, high-performance Windows, Linux, Solaris(TM), and OpenSolaris(TM) graphical applications, which typically use graphical hardware acceleration, are able to run applications like Google Earth and CAM-based software on VirtualBox software.
  • Support for a wider range of USB devices, including storage devices, iPods and phones.

VirtualBox software is free of charge for personal use. For wider deployments within an organization, Enterprise subscriptions are also available, starting at $30 (USD) per user per year, which includes 24/7 premium support from Sun’s technical team. Discounts are available based on volume.

Siemens Enters Virtualization Arena

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Siemens IT Solutions and Services today introduced its full-scale Virtualization Services. Based upon three core tenets — Engage, Enable, and Evolve — the package of services is designed to guide customers through what Siemens calls the “Virtualization Evolution”.

The three tenets of the Siemens approach are designed to guide customers through the various stages of the Virtualization Evolution. At the outset, Siemens engages virtualization to simplify technology tools and business processes. By simplifying the IT and process environment, companies can reduce the number of non-value-added tasks and improve business efficiency. This simplified architecture must be housed and enabled in some fashion, and containment is the means.

Containment engages all of the IT components into a centrally managed environment. By using the VMware vSphere 4 platform with Intel Xeo processor-based servers for containment, companies will be able to save power, reduce emissions, and consolidate server space. After simplifying and containing system architecture, the next step is evolving to the optimum state of fully dynamic infrastructure. Emerging client virtualization solutions incorporating Intel vPro technology provide enhanced security and improved manageability with increased end user flexibility. The entire Virtual Evolution is a journey along the road from initial simplification to the fully dynamic use of IT infrastructure.

Siemens IT Solutions and Services is one of the few companies that has demonstrated full scale virtualization of IT services, having implemented it on a global scale for its parent company, Siemens AG. “No one else is doing it on this scale in real time,” said Michael Kollar, Chief Architect. “We’ve implemented virtualization from data centers to the desktop. As such, we have a deep understanding of both the IT and business ramifications. Virtualization is about both content and technology,” he said.

For its Virtualization Services, Siemens has drawn upon its considerable experience in IT transformation to create a process that produces predictable and repeatable results. The five components can be utilized in sequence, individually, or in almost any combination.

Siemens contends that its Virtualization Services will provide customers with considerable financial and operational benefits, including:

  • Infrastructure cost reduction and optimization by managing more workloads without adding additional resources, and reducing power and cooling requirements
  • Server consolidation and infrastructure optimization created by pooling compute resources for improved utilization
  • Improved operational flexibility and responsiveness through managed IT infrastructure, based on standardized services, processes and automation

Siemens’ Virtualization Services are powered by Intel architecture based server and client platforms. The software is powered by VMware vSphere 4. Siemens feels strongly that the relationship between these three partners affords them an innovation advantage in the virtualization market, especially as it applies to cloud computing. Overall, this virtualized infrastructure provides important strategic, economic, and operational benefits, including:

  • Non-stop hardware maintenance
  • Dynamic resource management
  • Instantaneous backups and reliable disaster recovery

Oracle To Terminate Virtual Iron Business

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Oracle recently acquired Virtual Iron, even if it wasn’t exactly generating spectacularly good financial results (to put it midly). Now The Register claims Oracle is discontuining Virtual Iron’s business. More specifically, Oracle intends to “suspend development of existing Virtual Iron products and will suspend delivery of orders to new customers.”

Oracle aims to fully integrate Virtual Iron technology with Oracle VM, the company’s server virtualization and management product, although it has not specified when the new combined product will arrive. Former Virtual Iron people are also being laid off.

Full report at The Register.

VMware And HP Enhance Partnership

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VMware announced that it signed an OEM agreement to integrate HP Discovery and Dependency Mapping software into the VMware vCenter suite and is also working with HP on new datacenter management initiatives.

In addition, HP has integrated VMware ThinApp with the HP Client Automation policy-based management platform. Both of these initiatives will help customers seamlessly and cost-effectively manage their physical and virtual datacenter and desktop initiatives. Today’s announcement expands on the companies’ existing strong relationship designed to provide customers with complete solutions that help them build and manage dynamic datacenters for delivering IT as a service.

In the first area of collaboration, VMware will OEM the HP Discovery and Dependency Mapping software into the VMware vCenter management suite. VMware will integrate HP Discovery and Dependency Mapping software as a virtual appliance into VMware vCenter ConfigControl in 2010 after ConfigControl becomes available to further enable customers to maintain visibility and ensure compliance of configuration states in their VMware vSphere 4 environments. A combined solution will give VMware vCenter administrators “single pane of glass” visualization of how business services running in VMware virtual machines map to the physical infrastructure. This will enable customers to simplify management of their heterogeneous infrastructures through comprehensive discovery and dependency mapping as well as automation of common management tasks including change detection, configuration updates, provisioning, patching, and enforcement of compliance and security policies.

VMware has also worked with HP to extend the HP Client Automation policy-based management platform to support VMware ThinApp. This enables customers to standardize on a single client management solution to publish, deploy, track and report on virtualized applications along with physical applications. Customers can use the distributed infrastructure and preconfigured templates available in HP Client Automation software to manage VMware ThinApp’s new management functionality, decreasing infrastructure requirements and simplifying overall manageability. Customers can also use reports generated by HP Client Automation software to track virtual and physical applications for tighter asset management.

As a result of this enhanced collaboration and co-development, the two companies plan to jointly develop go-to-market and sales programs that leverage both companies’ direct and channel sales forces.

Dell Unleashes Virtualization Offering

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Dell today expanded its enterprise technology portfolio to help organizations become more efficient through the innovative use of technology. The introduction of flexible and modular virtualization and data center consulting services, business-ready virtualization configurations, new Dell PowerEdge servers and EqualLogic PS4000 storage array will further simplify the planning, deployment and management of virtualized and physical IT environments.

The expanded lineup attacks cost and complexity for two key areas of enterprise computing – virtualization and high-performance computing (HPC) – while providing differentiated solutions for small-and-medium sized businesses.

Dell is delivering enhanced virtualization solutions and services to reduce planning time for a faster path to efficient infrastructures, accelerate virtualization adoption and simplify management of virtual environments.

Improved Planning:

  • Dell is introducing new flexible and modular virtualization consulting services. Dell’s technology accelerated Dell ProConsult offerings use electronic discovery, Web based surveys, best practices, comparative data and reference architectures for shorter, more impactful engagements. To help holistically optimize data centers, Dell is introducing a variety of consulting options aimed at reducing the cost to plan, manage and run them:
    • Platform Optimization and Virtualization makes IT infrastructures more effective through an analysis of workload requirements, reference architectures and validated solutions. Dell virtualization services can dramatically reduce total cost of ownership, provision virtual machines in minutes instead of the weeks for traditional machines and help customers build a standards-based virtual environment.
    • Data Center Planning and Management helps customers make IT investment decisions faster based on sound best practices and key technology insights rather than long-term, manual consulting engagements.
    • Disaster Recovery helps customers plan and implement an effective and affordable disaster recovery program balancing people, processes and technology.
    • Data Management quickly diagnoses problems and recommends proven storage solutions to help eliminate unused capacity, provision storage faster, and comply with internal policies and external regulations.
    • Facilities Efficiency resolves space, power and cooling issues in priority order to help customers avoid expensive air conditioning upgrades and help reduce energy consumption.

Fast Deployment:

  • Two business-ready virtualization configurations simplify the design, procurement and deployment of virtual enterprise infrastructures.
    • Data Center Virtualization Configuration: The unified virtualization platform with pre-configured architectures combines Dell PowerEdge M-series blades and EqualLogic PS6000 iSCSI storage technology, with Cisco Catalyst networking switches, VMware vSphere 4 and Platespin Migrate from Novell to achieve an intelligent, automated data center.
    • Small and Medium Business Virtualization Configuration: The Dell virtualization configuration combines the PowerEdge R710, Dell PowerVault MD3000i, PowerVault DL2000 powered by Symantec for backup and PowerConnect networking technology together with Microsoft’s virtualization suite, including Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and System Center Essentials and System Center-Virtual Machine Manager 2008, to reduce cost and simplify management of virtualization.
  • Dell is announcing additional virtualization solutions including:
    • Enhanced Hypervisors: Support for VMware vSphere 4 and Citrix Essentials for XenServer5.0, and will support Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V to help customers deploy the latest virtualization software solutions. Dell now supports VMware vSphere 4 across 37 Dell PowerEdge platforms to help customers deploy the latest virtualization software solutions for both enterprise and small and medium business customers. VMware vSphere 4 helps customers of all sizes transform their datacenters into internal private clouds.
    • Disaster Recovery: Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager 2.0 for VMware vSphere 4 simplifies data protection and recovery through automation and integration with VMware vSphere 4. It delivers “Always On IT” for reduced application downtime and data protection managed under a single pane of glass for simplified and affordable disaster recovery. Dell EqualLogic arrays integrate with the VMware platform through support for the VMware vStorage APIs, enabling disaster recovery support for VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager and enhanced performance with the EqualLogic Multipathing Extension Module for VMware vSphere 4.
    • Application Virtualization: Dell helps companies make critical decisions for virtualizing business applications with published best practices and validated workloads for Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server applications for faster and more cost effective deployment.

Simplified Management:

  • Dell helps eliminate the complexity from managing virtual infrastructure by providing tailored management solution that best fit individual business needs.
    • Dell Virtualization Management toolkit: A choice of Dell and partner management tools that include Dell OpenManage and EqualLogic storage management, with key systems management platforms such as Dell Management Console, Microsoft, Symantec, and VMware, so you can easily manage virtual and physical environments.
    • Virtual infrastructure capabilities: Solutions from Novell and Vizioncore provide data protection with OEM virtual to physical, physical to virtual and physical to physical conversion solutions.
    • Virtual Server Remote Monitoring and Reporting: Dell ProManage Virtual Server Remote Monitoring and Reporting helps to provide improved visibility into VM performance and determine average utilization for processor, memory, network and disk at the VM level for better virtual and physical asset management. It also provides complete end-to-end VM reporting, monitoring and management 24X7 by Dell’s Service Operations Center. As a result, IT staff can be freed up from day-to-day administrative tasks and focus on driving strategic company value.

Small and Medium Business: With new Dell products and services, small-and-medium businesses can more efficiently deploy and manage technology with limited IT resources.

  • Dell, a leading provider of storage solutions and the number one vendor for iSCSI SAN solutions* – the fastest-growing segment of storage hardware, is expanding its industry-leading architecture and product portfolio.
  • Dell is introducing the new EqualLogic PS4000 storage array and PowerVault NX3000 network attached storage (NAS) device to help SMBs and remote office customers meet the ever-growing demand for storage.
    • The EqualLogic PS4000 includes enterprise-class storage virtualization, thin provisioning and management capabilities and integrates seamlessly into existing EqualLogic storage area networks (SANs). The family is designed to address three key customer requirements:
      • Server Virtualization: PS4000 SANs act serve virtual storage for virtual servers in remote offices with advanced integration and data protection capabilities for virtual servers including VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer. They can load balance workloads dynamically and automatically across disks and multiple arrays in a pool, eliminating the need for manual re-distributing capacity or application workloads which can incur downtime and services costs.
      • Consolidation: The peer scaling ability of the EqualLogic line allows small or remote office IT organizations to buy only what capacity or performance they need without huge upfront costs, and grow their SAN with additional PS Series arrays as business needs dictate. As data requirements increase, customers can easily add a second PS4000 or a high-end PS6000.
      • Data Protection and Disaster Recovery: The PS4000 includes full snapshot, replication and application and hypervisor integration features for simplified, automated, cost-effective data protection and disaster recovery. With built-in Auto-Replication, corporate IT managers can alleviate the risks, administrative burdens and slow recovery of backup at remote offices by replicating branch data to a centralized backup location.
    • The PowerVault NX3000 shares files across Windows and non-Windows clients and reduces duplicate files with Single-Instant Storage (SIS) technology. Additionally, the NX3000 is capable of serving as an optional iSCSI target to support application data.
  • Dell is extending its 11th generation PowerEdge portfolio with Intel Xeon 5500 series processors to include the PowerEdge T410 and T710 tower servers and R410 rack server. The new systems meet the unique needs of SMBs and remote office locations with enhanced performance for general business applications.
    • Performance: The Dell PowerEdge T410 provides an average of 11 percent greater performance* and is 16 percent more energy efficient (performance/watt)* than the HP ProLiant ML150 G6 .
    • Compact design: Standing only 24 inches deep with an interactive LCD panel, the PowerEdge T410 is an ideal choice for small businesses looking for technology that fits in tight work spaces. The PowerEdge R410 features a short chassis that fits in small spaces like closets, shallow racks, mobile server enclosures, wall server enclosures and A/V racks.
    • Easy to manage and use: The PowerEdge servers include Lifecycle Controller for one-button deployment, easy-to-manage technology that helps improve productivity. The new rollback features provides confidence during the deployment of critical system updates with fall back to the last known good state.
    • Grow with your business: The PowerEdge T710 has the capability to include 16 drives for large local storage capacity to allow remote offices and growing business with large internal storage to scale as they grow.
    • Virtualization for Small Business: New Dell ProConsult service provides a simple tool to remotely evaluate business’ existing IT environment and quantify the return on investment for implementing virtualization.

High Performance Computing: Dell believes future high performance computing clusters will be powered by standards-based cluster technology. For HPC and technical computing environments within the public and private sectors, Dell is adding the PowerEdge R410, a powerful, compact and quiet rack server that provides the right balance of features and performance, to its HPC server line-up.

  • Balanced Performance: Configured to increase productivity for intensive HPC workloads, the R410 has the raw computational horsepower needed for technical computing, with up to 80 percent performance improvements* over last generation servers. It is designed to save energy with policy-based power and thermal management, and standards-based Energy Smart components.
  • Increased scalability and performance: High-speed interconnects such as InfiniBand QDR and DDR provide the throughput needed for communication-intensive applications using PCIe gen2 I/O slots that double the theoretical I/O bandwidth of PCI gen1.
  • Simplified Management: The server comes pre-loaded with Dell Management Console (DMC) and Dell Lifecycle Controller for simplified management.
  • Inspired Design: Rack servers are designed with system and image commonality and an LCD screen positioned to provide aisle-level access for diagnostics. Convenient placement of interface ports and power make installation and redeployment easier. Clutter-free cable routing reduces complexity and makes airflow and maintenance more efficient.

The new PowerEdge T410 and R410 servers are available today on www.dell.com/PowerEdge starting at $999. The PowerEdge T710 server will be available in the coming weeks. The new EqualLogic PS 4000 is available today onwww.dell.com/EqualLogic starting at $10,000. Servers, storage, virtualization solutions and Dell services are available through Dell or any of the company’s more than 49,000 Global PartnerDirect Channel Partners.