News

Quest Software’s Virtualization Monitoring Solution vFoglight Will Support Microsoft Hyper-V

September 1, 2010 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Quest Software today announced that vFoglight, its solution for virtualization monitoring and capacity planning, will support Microsoft Hyper-V and provide increased automation of virtual infrastructures with vFoglight 6.5, currently planned for release in Q4 2010.

vFoglight now also supports Microsoft Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange.

Quest is working to set a new standard for analyzing and monitoring performance and capacity across physical, virtual and cloud infrastructures while easing administration through automation.

Features and enhancements included in vFoglight 6.5 include:

Extended Hypervisor Support – Manage multiple hypervisor platforms, including VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V, more consistently and effectively.
Administration – Reduce time and costs of empowering administrators to start, stop and pause VMs, in the context of daily activities.
Event Remediation – Administrators can view alarms then speed mean-time-to-resolution for problems by launching workflows to automate resolution.
User Perspectives – Designed to provide administrators tailored views for understanding performance monitoring, capacity planning, chargeback, and more.
Enhanced FAQts – First introduced with vFoglight 6.0, the enhanced FAQts in vFoglight 6.5 provide factual information about the dynamic infrastructure, displayed clearly for administrators.

AppDynamics Survey Claims Mere 14% of Companies Have Virtualized Mission-Critical Applications

September 1, 2010 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

AppDynamics has announced the results of its Application Virtualization Outlook survey.

Focused on understanding enterprise efforts to virtualize business applications, the survey revealed a significant divide in the pace of adoption of virtualization for non-critical systems versus mission-critical systems.

In particular, the results show that the majority of companies have yet to move Tier 1, mission-critical applications to virtual environments. Despite widely acknowledging the benefits of virtualization, most companies noted that they need more evidence that mission-critical applications will succeed in virtual environments.

According to the survey:

Application Virtualization Experiences ‘VM Stall’

While 83 percent report they have virtualized their non-critical applications and systems, in stark contrast, only 14 percent of respondents reported that they have fully virtualized “Tier 1” applications. With regard to those mission-critical applications, respondents said they were 50 percent more likely to virtualize applications used by employees than to virtualize the applications that directly interact with customers.

People, Performance & Design Are Top Concerns

When asked about the primary obstacles preventing the virtualization of mission-critical applications, respondents cited ‘people issues’, performance and design concerns as most the common. In fact, 52 percent of companies noted that application owners have blocked the project to virtualize a Tier 1 application. At the same time, 49 percent worry that the applications aren’t designed to support virtualization and 45 percent cited concerns about performance degradation once virtualized.

Benefits Are Clear, Confidence Is Lacking

While these concerns persist, there is wide recognition that compelling benefits exist when companies virtualize mission-critical applications. 59 percent strongly agree that virtualization would result in server consolidation and related power and cooling savings, while 49 percent strongly agree that failover/disaster recovery capabilities would improve in a virtual environment. 41 percent agree that their IT agility and responsiveness to the business would improve. Yet, the majority of companies still expressed a lack of confidence that their applications could succeed in virtual environments.

For more information about the Application Virtualization Outlook survey visit their blog.

Pano Logic Launches Zero Client Certification Program

September 1, 2010 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Pano Logic, provider of zero client desktop virtualization solutions, has announced a partner certification program to provide new users with additional resources that will help them quickly implement and test desktop virtualization with the Pano Logic zero client desktop virtualization solution.

The inaugural class, comprised of representatives from Pano Logic’s global network of 300 authorized channel partners, will take place during VMworld and emphasize conducting and evaluating successful pilots.

The partner program expands the resources Pano Logic has invested in its channel, which handles nearly 100 percent of the company’s sales. The program will provide basic technical training on installing and managing Pano System deployments across a range of network architectures with an emphasis on successful pilots and evaluation services.

The program also extends Pano Logic’s efforts to assist end users in their rollout of new virtual desktop deployments. The most recent move was the May release of the Pano Express, a pre-loaded, pre-configured 50-user suite combining VMware vSphere Essentials, Microsoft Windows 7 licenses, and server and storage hardware with Pano Logic’s award-winning zero client platform.

Pano Express drastically reduces the capital costs (CAPEX) and complexity of implementing VDI deployments and eliminates the need for specialized skills or training.

Pano Logic Zero Client Computing:

Pano Logic solves major challenges inherent in the current PC-based, client-server computing model, while providing end users with the same, familiar PC-like Windows experience.
End users connect to their virtual machine with a zero client that contains no processor, no operating system, no memory, no drivers, no software and no moving parts. This represents a major shift from highly complex and costly PC and thin client computing solutions.
Pano Logic radically reduces computing TCO by as much as 80 percent by completely eliminating endpoint device management, support and obsolescence and centralizing 100 percent of computing in the data center.
Pano Logic starts a $319 per seat and is also available in a pre-configured, pre-loaded all-in 50-user suite combining VMware vSphere™ Essentials, Microsoft Windows 7 licenses, and server and storage hardware with Pano Logic’s award-winning zero client platform.

Xsigo Introduces First Adapter-Free Ethernet-based Virtual I/O

September 1, 2010 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Xsigo Systems yesterday announced a significant advancement in virtual I/O technology, simplifying and accelerating data center convergence – a key enabler of private cloud computing.

The company today released an Ethernet-based version of its award-winning Xsigo I/O Director, the industry’s first virtual I/O technology to leverage the standard Ethernet ports found on every x86 server.

The new technology helps customers drive enterprise efficiency – both OPEX and CAPEX – by connecting servers to every data center resource via a single conventional Ethernet server port. Unlike alternative approaches such as FCoE that require costly add-on cards, Xsigo’s new approach can deliver a complete end-to-end converged connectivity solution for less than $500 per server, or about 1/3 the cost of a converged network adapter (CNA) card alone.

Previously, infrastructure convergence meant purchasing add-on cards like FCoE adapters and PCIe link extenders that are disruptive to install, increase power consumption, and strain IT teams with laborious support tasks. Compared with these alternatives, Xsigo virtual I/O can save up to 80% on capital cost and avoid days or weeks of server downtime.

By connecting to servers via standard Ethernet ports, the new Xsigo I/O Director allows customers to:

Leverage the power of converged infrastructures with fast, simple and cost-effective deployment: Dynamically connect servers to as many as 64 isolated Ethernet and Fibre Channel networks with a single Ethernet cable to consolidate server connectivity and make private cloud architectures a reality.
Install on existing equipment without disruption: Companies can utilize the standard 1 gigabit and 10 gigabit Ethernet ports found in all x86 servers today – no special server hardware is required.
Spend less on new purchases: IT managers can save up to $5,600 per server by eliminating the converged network adapters required by other products.
Respond quickly to change: IT administrators can modify server connections in seconds via software rather than physically changing conventional adapters and cables, which can take hours or even days.

The new product installs in just minutes by connecting a server’s Ethernet port to the Xsigo I/O Director. Customers then install drivers to their server. Server I/O consolidation and management can begin immediately.

The Ethernet-based Xsigo I/O Director employs the same hardware and software platform as Xsigo’s proven InfiniBand-based I/O Director, which is deployed in more than 100 enterprise data centers worldwide and is demonstrated compatible with software and hardware from VMware, Microsoft, Citrix, Dell, HP, IBM, Hitachi, Oracle, EMC, NetApp, Cisco, Brocade and many others.

Available in September, the Ethernet-based Xsigo VP780 and VP560 I/O Directors are priced starting at $35,000.

Arkeia Software Releases Backup Agent For vSphere 4.1

September 1, 2010 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Arkeia Software, a provider of network backup solutions, today announced availability of Arkeia Network Backup v8.2 for VMware’s vSphere 4.1.

The Arkeia Network Backup Agent for vSphere 4.1 uses VMware’s latest vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP). The agent supports VMware’s Changed Block Tracking for fast incremental backups and both vCenter and vApp for flexible management of large vSphere deployments across multiple physical hosts. Learn more at www.arkeia.com/vstorage.

For a limited period, the Arkeia Virtual Appliance for VMware Essentials includes an Arkeia vStorage agent license for three VMware hosts. The standard package offers support for only one VMware host. This represents a discount of more than 60% over à la carte pricing.

The Arkeia Virtual Appliance is a preconfigured, ready-to-deploy backup server available for VMware ESX and ESXi.

This Arkeia Virtual Appliance package delivers a turn-key backup solution for a VMware Essential bundle (including 3 host servers) for less than $3,000.

DMTF’s Open Virtualization Format 1.1 Receives Thumbs Up From ANSI

September 1, 2010 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), the organization bringing the IT industry together to collaborate on systems management standards development, validation, promotion and adoption, today announced that its Open Virtualization Format (OVF) standard version 1.1 has been adopted as an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) standard.

This achievement marks a major milestone in DMTF’s efforts to enable interoperable, platform-independent cloud and virtual management solutions.

OVF has been designated as ANSI INCITS 469 2010 by the INCITS Executive Board. INCITS is accredited by ANSI, the organization that oversees the development of American National Standards. ANSI accreditation signifies that the procedures used by the standards body in connection with the development of American National Standards meet the Institute’s essential requirements for openness, balance, consensus and due process.

DMTF will continue to work with INCITS to submit OVF to the International Standards Organization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) for adoption as an international standard.

First published in March 2009, OVF simplifies interoperability, security and machine lifecycle management by describing an open, secure, portable, efficient and extensible format for the packaging and distribution of workloads consisting of one or more virtual machines and applications. This enables software developers to ship pre-configured, ready-to-deploy solutions and allows end-users to distribute applications into their environments with minimal effort. OVF is the cornerstone of DMTF’s virtualization standards efforts and is also considered an important foundation for the organization’s cloud standards development.