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Nortel Spinoff Blade Network Technologies Aims To Virtualize Datacenter Racks

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BLADE Network Technologies, the data-center server-switch company spun off from Nortel two years ago, announces the availability of its new RackSwitch network virtualization switches—the only switches designed specifically for IBM’s iDataPlex, an inexpensive, custom-configured rack system featuring design innovations in cooling and efficiency to address Web 2.0-style computing (see iDataPlex coverage on GigaOM and Ars Technica).

BLADE Network Technologies

From the press release:

RackSwitch provides the high-bandwidth communications for IBM iDataPlex in today’s massive scale-out data centers that run I/O-intensive Web 2.0 applications and seek to make the most efficient use of the cloud computing model. Leveraging IBM and BLADE’s common blade server heritage, RackSwitch enables iDataPlex to increase the density networking within a single rack, use significantly less power for networking while maximizing bandwidth available to a single system, employ server-friendly cooling of the networking subsystem and provide 100-percent interoperability with existing network infrastructures. BLADE’s RackSwitch delivers standardized networking with the lowest latency and highest throughput, line-rate/non-blocking switching performance at 1 Gigabit and 10 Gigabit, with stacking and unified management.

Blade claims leadership in this particular market, having installed more than four million ports connecting more than 800,000 HP, IBM and NEC server blades, with products deployed across 26 market segments.

BLADE’s RackSwitch G8100, a 1U top-of-rack switch equipped with 24 lossless, low-latency 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GE) ports, is designed to equip iDataPlex in high-performance clusters that require 10 Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth with latency of 300 nanoseconds or less. BLADE’s RackSwitch G8000, a 1U top-of-rack switch equipped with 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports and four 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports for uplinks and/or stacking, is designed for the use of iDataPlex for emerging high-volume cloud computing environments.

BLADE’s new RackSwitch products are available for iDataPlex in the US and Canada in June and globally by the end of the year at a starting price of US$5,500. The company will demonstrate the new switches at next week’s Interop conference in Las Vegas.

[Source: New York Times / NetworkWorld]

Sysload Software Releases SP-ANALYST, Performance Management Solution for VMware ESX

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Sysload Software, a provider of performance and capacity management solutions for data centres, announced today that it has released SP-ANALYST for VMware ESX infrastructures.

Sysload

SP-ANALYST for VMware ESX provides increased frequency and higher granularity of data collection, the use of a single console to monitor both physical and virtual machines, and an extra feature that controls the timekeeping discrepancy on machines running the ESX Server platform. By providing a centralized, real-time view of the data centre, Sysload’s solutions aim to make performance management easier, even on the most complex virtual infrastructures.

From the press release:

Sysload’s full range of solutions supports multi-platform environments in terms of equipment, operating systems, and proprietary virtualization platforms (e.g., VMware, SUN Solaris, HP-ux, IBM Aix, IBM i5/OS, Linux, Windows, Novell, Citrix XenServer).

Sysload’s data collection technology is based on dedicated data collection agents deployed directly on the monitored system that allow objective monitoring of an ensemble of physical and/or virtual servers. Sysload agents can collect up to 300 metrics directly from the heart of the monitored systems with very high frequency (intervals as low as 1 second) while consuming minimal resources (less than one percent of CPU with no continuous network traffic thanks to localized history files). This fine data granularity ensures precise monitoring of system utilization and allows the detection of virtualization-related micro saturation incidents that cannot be detected by most other monitoring tools on the market.

[Source: Sysload pressroom]

vmSight Releases 3.5 Version of Virtual Network Intelligence Product Suite

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vmSight recently announced the 3.5 release of its product suite. The Virtual Network Intelligence product suite allows customers to monitor, alert and report on application and user activity in virtual environments. The vmSight product suite includes VMware-certified virtual appliances for policy management and reporting and for monitoring.

vmSight

vmSight Virtual Network Intelligence 3.5 adds the following key capabilities:

Application Performance Management – gather data on application response time, application uptime and network latency for all virtualized applications. Monitor, report and alert on service levels for specific applications, user groups and times of day. Measure end user experience and spot problems based on user satisfaction analytics and performance trends.

VM Sprawl Control – Sometimes referred to as “sprawl,” the uncontrolled proliferation of virtual machines can reduce the value and performance of Virtual Infrastructure. vmSight works to automatically and continuously monitor application performance trends and usage statistics to identify under-utilized applications and VMs. It identifies resources for reallocation and applications for consolidation to increase the cost savings of VM utilization.

VDI Diagnostics – continuously monitor VMware VDI deployments and infrastructure to ensure the success of VDI deployments. Capture information on RDP bandwidth, RDP connection results, network latency, and VMware VDM messaging results, as well as track all application activity from virtual desktops and bandwidth consumption by specific applications such as print jobs.

Other enhancements in the release include the ability to synchronize VM identities and groups from VMware VirtualCenter, along with the previously supported ability to synchronize user identities and groups from Active Directory (AD) or LDAP. This allows customers to define service level policies and report by groups defined in VirtualCenter and in AD/LDAP. The 3.5 release also offers capabilities to define charge plans and generate bills based on usage of virtualized applications. The model allows billing for virtualized business services on a connection time or data transfer basis.

[Source: press release]

VKernel Sets Up Worldwide Reseller Channel

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VKernel yesterday announced (PDF) the launch of its Global Channel Partner Program for value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, and consulting firms.

VKernel

Additionally, VKernel hired Bill Brown as its director of channel sales to build and manage the new partner program. Mr. Brown joins VKernel from Acronis where he was the channel manager for the U.S. East Coast and Canada.

“The rapid growth of the server virtualization market is creating a new lucrative market for systems management solutions to real-world virtual data center issues. Traditional management tools in the physical environment simply cannot address issues in the virtual environment,” said Alex Bakman, founder and CEO of VKernel. “Our growing partner lineup is already reaping the benefits of our unique approach to systems management by offering a suite of virtual appliances that are designed to eliminate complexity, quickly solve problems, and immediately deliver value to their customers.”

“VKernel’s sales strategy is channel exclusive and we are dedicated to making our partners successful,” said Bill Brown, director of channel sales at VKernel. “The virtualization eco-system is currently evolving to include critical management solutions that partners need to fuel their growth and take advantage of a great market opportunity. It is our goal to have VKernel solutions included in each of our partner’s virtualization eco-system offerings.”

[Source: VMblog]

VMware’s Financial Results For Q1 Are In, 69 Percent Revenue Increase Beats Wall Street Expectations

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VMware today announced financial results for the first quarter of 2008:

  • Revenues for the first quarter were $438 million, an increase of 69% compared to the first quarter of 2007. (Analysts were expecting a top line of $422.4 million, according to Thomson Financial.)
  • GAAP operating income for the first quarter was $48 million, compared to $46 million in the first quarter of 2007. Non-GAAP operating income was $106 million, an increase of 62% over the year-ago quarter.
  • GAAP net income for the quarter was $43 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, compared to $41 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $88 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, compared to $0.16 a year ago.

From the press release:

First-quarter U.S. revenues grew 65% compared to the year-ago quarter on increased demand from large enterprises standardizing on the VMware platform and an increase in the number of smaller transactions delivered through VMware channel partners. International revenues, which increased 74%, were driven in part by triple-digit business growth across Australia and emerging markets including Brazil, China, India and Russia.

Software license revenue grew 73% compared to the same period last year to $294 million and service revenue, including support, subscription and professional services, increased 62% to $144 million.

As for the financial outlook:

  • VMware continues to expect 2008 revenue growth of approximately 50% compared to 2007.
  • Second quarter 2008 revenues are expected to increase approximately 55% compared to the second quarter of 2007.

The stock was up $1.95, or 3.5%, to $58.02 in after-hours trading.

“Our product suite has a very high return on investment,” Greene said. “That puts us in a very good position for getting wallet share as the economy gets a little more uncertain.” Large deals, valued at $1 million and up, made up 20% of bookings during the quarter, Greene said in an interview.

Total bookings were not disclosed.

[Source: TheStreet]

Linux Kernel 2.6.25 Released, KVM x86 Emulator Updated

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Linus Torvalds has released the latest version of the “stable” Linux kernel, version 2.6.25, which includes changes to Wi-Fi support, virtualization, real-time scheduling and file systems.

The kernel, which was released approximately 10 weeks after its predecessor, includes an updated KVM x86 emulator with more instructions and components, designed to improve performance and compatibility. Virtual prototyping platforms framework Virtio has also been updated, while paravirt_ops now works on the x86-64 architecture.

[Source: ZDnet Australia]