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Former Microsoft Virtualization Director, DABCC Founder Start PaperShare

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David Greschler (co-founder of Softricity App-V, and until recently, director of virtualization and cloud strategy at Microsoft) and Doug Brown (founder of popular virtualization site DABCC) recently unveiled PaperShare, a community site specifically targeting people who are interested in gaining knowledge about the specific topic of virtualization and cloud computing.

Greschler is CEO, and Brown is CTO.

PaperShare aims to connect people with “information, individuals and companies they’re interested in” – creating a place where they find and share knowledge, interact with others, and do business together.

According to IT Knowledge Exchange, Edwin Yuen will replace Greschler as Microsoft’s director of virtualization and cloud strategy.

Like Greschler, Yuen also joined Microsoft as part of the Softricity acquisition, and he’s also been a public face of Hyper-V over the past few years.

Also check out VMblog’s Q&A with David Greschler and Doug Brown

Flash Virtualization Company FlashSoft Secures $3 Million

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FlashSoft, the ‘Flash Virtualization Company’, launched with the announcement of its Series A funding of $3 million, led by Thomvest Ventures, and the introduction of the first commercial offering of software to enable enterprise flash as a cost-effective, server-tier computing resource.

The company’s product, called FlashSoft SE, is commercially available today and is already being used in business-critical production environments by several customers. FlashSoft SE is available for free evaluation through a 30-day “Try Before You Buy” program.

Flash technology has gained traction in enterprise computing due to its ability to reduce input/output (IO) latency, and to increase scalability and performance for databases, enterprise applications and virtualization environments.

Despite the performance advantages of flash SSD, two barriers have inhibited its adoption in the enterprise. First, when used as primary data storage, flash memory cannot easily integrate with and leverage the benefits of existing storage systems infrastructure. Secondly, storing all of an application’s data on server-attached flash memory remains expensive.

FlashSoft SE is the first commercially available, all-software “tier minus one” solution for Flash Virtualization.

Enterprise IT can now provide databases, applications and virtual machine environments with the performance benefit of having the entire data set on flash, with only a fraction of the data actually stored in flash. This innovation makes enterprise flash a cost-effective performance solution that works seamlessly with existing storage infrastructure.

FlashSoft SE is a software solution that automatically identifies and caches the most frequently used data — hot data — on any SSD in the server. This capability, called Active Data Management, enables flash SSD to be applied to the computing operations in which it can provide the greatest benefit, eliminating IO latency that holds back application and virtualization scale and performance.

FlashSoft SE for Windows Server is available for evaluation and purchase now. Pricing is based on the number of servers accelerated and types of SSDs employed.

FlashSoft SE for Linux is currently in Beta testing.

IDC Evaluates The Desktop Virtualization Software Market

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IDC expects the desktop virtualization market to make significant gains in both revenues and total customer count well into the second half of the decade. As the solutions mature, they will become increasingly applicable to more organizations and a greater breadth of vertical industries.

A new IDC MarketScape report evaluates the current capabilities and long-term strategies of 12 desktop virtualization software vendors.

The report, IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Desktop Virtualization 2011 Vendor Analysis, evaluates vendors in the desktop virtualization space by analyzing their current capabilities as well as their longer-term strategies that impact their ability to provide solutions and gain market share going forward. It utilizes a scoring and ranking model based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria, which results in a graphical illustration of each vendor’s position in the competitive landscape.

Among the vendors evaluated in the report, IDC placed just one – Citrix – in the “Leaders” category.

Citrix was recognized for its comprehensive set of technologies and a firm strategic grip on where it wants to take its product lineup.

IDC placed seven vendors in the “Major Players” category – Desktone, Kaviza, Microsoft, MokaFive, Quest Software, Virtual Bridges, and VMware.

The vendors that were placed in the “Contenders” category were Red Hat, Unidesk, Virtual Computer, and Wanova.

Open Virtualization Alliance Gains 65 New Members

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The Open Virtualization Alliance, a consortium committed to fostering the adoption of open virtualization technologies, including Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), today announced broad industry support and adoption with the addition of 65 new members to the consortium.

With this, the consortium has achieved nearly ten-fold growth in membership since its establishment just one month ago, and today includes members across a wide spectrum of hardware, software, services and cloud computing businesses.

In May, BMC Software, Eucalyptus Systems, HP, IBM, Intel, Red Hat and SUSE announced the formation of the Open Virtualization Alliance. The goal of the alliance is to provide education, best practices and technical advice to help businesses understand and evaluate their virtualization options, including open source alternatives such as KVM. Since the formation of the consortium, leaders throughout the virtualization industry have quickly expressed strong interest in participating in the Open Virtualization Alliance.

Today, the following companies join as general members of the Open Virtualization Alliance:

Abiquo, AdaptiveComputing, Afore Solutions, Arista Networks, Arkeia, autonomicresources, B1 Systems, BlueCat Networks, Brocade, Carbon 14 Software, Cfengine, CheapVPS, Cloud Cruiser, CloudSigma, CloudSwitch, CodeFutures, CohesiveFT, Collax GmbH, Convirture, Corensic, Dell, enstratus, EnterpriseDB, Everis Inc., Fujitsu Frontech, FusionIO, Gluster, Inc., Grid Dynamics, Groundwork Open Source, HexaGrid Computing, IDT us, Infinite Technologies, Information Builders, Killer Beaver, LLC, Likewise, Mindtree Ltd, MontaVista Software, Morph Labs, nanoCloud, Neocoretech, Nicira Networks, Nimbula, novastorm, One Convergence, OpenNebula / C12G Labs, Providence Software (XVT), Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH, Qindel, RisingTide Systems, ScaleOut Software, Sep Software, Shadow Soft, Smartscale, StackOps, stepping stone GmbH, Storix, UC4, Unilogik, Univention, Usharesoft, Virtual Bridges, Vyatta, Weston Software Inc, XebiaLabs and Zmanda.

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.”

Cotendo Raises $17 Million From Citrix, Juniper Networks And Others

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Cotendo, provider of cloud-based acceleration technologies, announced today the completion of a $17 million private funding round that will fuel the company’s “long-term growth strategy and continued technology innovation in the delivery of highly-personalized dynamic content for mobile and web applications”.

In addition, the funds will be used to continue Cotendo’s global expansion into new markets and fast growing regions around the world.

Strategic investors and new business partners Citrix Systems and Juniper Networks, through its Junos Innovation Fund, participated in this round of funding along with existing venture backers Sequoia, Benchmark and Tenaya Capital.

The synergy between the services and technologies of Citrix Systems and Cotendo blend on-premise physical and virtual appliances, content acceleration and cloud services that will accelerate and optimize delivery from the end user all the way to the enterprise over distributed networks, thereby improving end user experience from any location to any device.

The relationship between Juniper Networks and Cotendo will address the demand of service providers for technologies that will enable them to offer value added services and over-the-top services to content providers. This includes mobile carriers, large ISPs, and telecom companies that buy products to serve enterprise customers.

Cotendo will also launch and commercialize its new Mobile Acceleration Suite, and announced today the new frontier of acceleration services, ensuring fast and reliable delivery of mobile content regardless of location, device, or application.

With this funding round Cotendo will embark on a rapid sales and business development expansion in Asia-Pacific and Latin America to address the growing demand for mobile content acceleration services in places where the Smart Phone frequently replaced the PC as a primary computing and networking vehicle.

(Via TechCrunch)