News

HyPerformix Releases Capacity Manager 3.4

August 25, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

HyPerformix recently announced the availability of the latest version of their flagship HyPerformix Capacity Manager product.

Capacity Manager is a capacity planning platform that is designed specifically to support IT decision makers with accurate predictions of capacity requirements, cost implications and expected performance from virtually any IT architecture. Capacity Manager also identifies servers and workloads that are safe candidates for consolidation and virtualization. Capacity Manager collects performance and business data and applies advanced algorithms to deliver concise, accurate predictions through compelling interactive dashboards.

HyPerformix has simplified capacity planning to accelerate customer success, and has incorporated extensive process automation and best practices into Capacity Manager 3.4.

VMware Puts Out Release Candidates for Server 2.0, Workstation 6.5 and ACE 2.5

August 25, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

Troubled VMware doesn’t let recent problems and acquisition talk get in the way of continuously updating its product line.

Readying their official launch, the company has put out several release candidates recently: just last week, VMware announced the Release Candidate 2 (build 110949) for Server 2.0 and the Release Candidate 1 (build 110068) for Workstation 6.5 and ACE 2.5.

Unified Network Storage Provider agàmi Folds After Burning Through $45 Million In 6 Months

August 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

This isn’t the prettiest of stories: Valleywag and the Mercury News are reporting that unified network storage startup agàmi Systems has left the building. The company is shutting down after raising a lot of money, most recently picking up $45 million in Series C financing.

Back then, the fundraising was led by Advanced Equities (recent reports about this particular VC firm itself have been far from positive either) with participation from current investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Kleiner Perkins, APEX Venture Partners, Alta Partners, TIF Ventures and Duff Ackerman Goodrich, and new investments from ITOCHU Corporation and David Stiles (CEO), and was going to be used to ramp up sales & marketing.

Too little, too late, apparently.

More than two weeks after the shutdown, agàmi’s Web site was still up and touting the company as “the leading provider of unified network storage solutions.”

The official word:

“Agami’s board has decided to shut the company down as the efforts to raise further capital didn’t materialize in time. It’s really unfortunate, but that is true,” said Sreekanti. “The company is going through a process of the liquidation of assets, so I don’t have anymore details than that.”

And the reaction from NetApp CEO Dan Warmenhoven:

“You don’t raise $45 million and then get shut down. That doesn’t make sense.”

Agàmi employed between 80 and 100 people, with most in Sunnyvale, some in Hyderabad, India. Questions remain whether Agami had burned through its funds or whether some of agàmi’s investors, pulled back money that was contingent on technology or sales progress.

agami Systems

AppSense Teams Up With Enterprise Systems

August 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

AppSense today announced that it is partnering with Enterprise Systems to extend its VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) offerings to customers throughout the U.S. Southwest, particularly those in the healthcare market.

AppSense (previous coverage) is the longstanding policy and personalization management leader in the healthcare market, with customers such as Utah Heartland Health, Wellpoint, Banner Health and Catholic Health Initiatives, among others.

While both AppSense and Enterprise Systems share a strong relationship with Citrix, Rob Piwowarczyk, founder and president of Enterprise Systems, says he wanted to establish a partnership that leverages AppSense’s user environment management expertise for VDI and other delivery mechanisms, as well as its extensive experience with healthcare IT organizations.

AppSense recently reported a 50 percent increase in U.S. revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008 and is aggressively focusing on the U.S. market. AppSense software facilitates enterprise-scale adoption of VDI by enabling organizations to significantly reduce VDI implementation costs and easily personalize standardized virtual desktops. By decoupling both corporate policy and personalization data from the desktop, managing them independently and applying them on-demand, AppSense’s solution lets IT departments use a combination of desktop and application delivery methods, and transparently migrate users from physical to virtual desktops.

Avnet to Distribute Reflex Security’s “Virtual Security Manager”

August 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Reflex Security today announced a global distribution agreement with Avnet Technology Solutions, an operating group of Avnet, which will be implemented initially in the U.S. and Canada. Under the agreement, Avnet will distribute Reflex Security’s “Virtual Security Manager” (VSM) solution. The agreement will significantly broaden the market opportunities for Reflex Security, and VARs will benefit from Avnet’s virtualization solutions practice.

While virtualization enables enterprise organizations to optimize IT resources and reduce their costs, there are also critical security implications that need to be taken into account. The first company to introduce a dedicated virtual security solution in the market, Reflex Security provides companies with a simple and cost-effective way to apply an additional layer of security to their virtualized environments.

vmSight Includes VDI User Activity Control In vmSight 3.5

August 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

vmSight today announced that its recently released vmSight 3.5 product suite now includes a user activity control feature for virtual desktops, in addition to its existing monitoring capabilities. This newly added capability allows virtual desktop administrators to block unauthorized user and application activity on virtual desktops for improved performance or security. The feature is available immediately in the vmSight virtual appliance that directly integrates into an organization’s virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) platform.

vmSight’s patented Connector ID technology facilitates the new activity control functionality in release 3.5. Similar to the caller ID capability prevalent in today’s phone networks, vmSight’s Connector ID enables virtual desktops and thin clients with a user identification and tracking capability. Using this technology, vmSight is the only solution of its kind with the ability to monitor users and prevent unauthorized application activity for performance or security purposes. Administrators can identify the specific virtual desktop and applications accessed by a user at any given time, and can track, control and optimize user activity and performance end-to-end.

As part of the company’s vmSight 3.5 product suite for virtual desktop deployments, user activity control integrates completely with the vmSight Center and Monitoring Stations. User activity is monitored in real-time, and unauthorized user or application activity can be blocked for improved performance or security. Integration with Active Directory and LDAP allows policy definition based on existing user groups. Combined with its other features, such as performance monitoring and service level management, vmSight 3.5 provides a complete virtual desktop management solution to help reduce problems and support costs.