Virtualization.com

News and insights from the vibrant world of virtualization and cloud computing

Partnerships

Citrix Aims To Make Creation of Hypervisor-Independent Application Workloads Easier with Project Kensho

by 2 Comments

Citrix today announced “Project Kensho,” which will deliver Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF) tools that allow independent software vendors (ISVs) and enterprise IT managers to easily create hypervisor-independent, portable enterprise application workloads. These tools will allow application workloads to be imported and run across Citrix XenServer, Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and VMware ESX environments.

Citrix boasts this implementation will solve a multitude of interoperability issues between virtualization platforms while allowing automated provisioning and management of applications, rather than just virtual machines. Users will be able to easily install and use any OVF packaged application workload regardless of which virtualization platform they use – whether it be XenServer, Hyper-V, or ESX.

“XenServer delivers the benefits of fast, free, ubiquitous and compatible virtualization, whether from Citrix, Microsoft or VMware,” said Simon Crosby, CTO of the Virtualization and Management Division, Citrix Systems. “Project Kensho highlights the Citrix commitment to interoperability for virtualization, while maximizing price/performance and richness of features at the virtual infrastructure level.”

The OVF specification was originally co-authored by Citrix and VMware, with contributions from Dell, HP, IBM and Microsoft. The companies then jointly submitted the draft to the DMTF standardization process.

Project Kensho will support the vision of the Citrix Delivery Center product family, helping customers transform static datacenters into dynamic “delivery centers” for the best performance, security, cost savings and business agility. The tools developed through Project Kensho will be integrated into Citrix Workflow Studio based orchestrations, for example, to provide an automated, environment for managing the import and export of applications from any major virtualization platform.

A technical preview of Project Kensho tools is expected to be available for free download in September 2008.

Phoenix To Integrate HyperSpace into NEC Notebooks

by Leave a Comment

Phoenix Technologies announced that NEC will be among the first PC manufacturers to integrate Phoenix HyperSpace, a virtualized operating environment that enables instant-on applications running independently and alongside Windows. NEC has signed an agreement with Phoenix which will allow it to deliver “unprecedented levels of security” for its notebook customers, enabled by HyperCore, Phoenix’s firmware-based hypervisor.

The Phoenix HyperSpace environment includes ManageSpace, which enables security applications to operate before, during and after Windows Vista boots up and shuts down. As a result, NEC notebooks will be secured before malware gets downloaded by Windows applications. This is possible because virus definition files are updated in ManageSpace while preventing Windows access to the network.

BitLeap LeapServ Backup Software Goes Virtual

by Leave a Comment

Offsite backup provider BitLeap today announced it has extended its LeapServ software platform to customer provided VMware environments.

The new LeapServVM product will consist of a custom built VM system file supplied to the customer, which can be loaded into existing VMware environments to perform all of the services typically provided by a dedicated LeapServ network appliance.

The LeapServVM will be a licensed copy of BitLeap’s LeapServ technology when bundled with data backup or e-mail archiving services. While active, the software and its performance will be fully managed by BitLeap just like any traditional physical LeapServ appliance.

BitLeap’s CEO Guy Suter:

“The ability to setup a LeapServ on virtual machines will greatly expand the implementation and deployment options available to our customers. We have created a system to custom build LeapServ software to specific customer needs, which will enable us to support a wide range of VMware environments. We are excited to offer this new option and to see the innovative ways it will be put to use.”

One of the major benefits to the LeapServVM is that its core backup methodology is agent-less, allowing users to backup data from virtually all systems through standard network protocols. The LeapServVM product can also be beneficial when customers would like to phase in or evaluate offsite data backup technology from BitLeap.

The LeapServVM software license and file creation fee for up to 500 gigabytes of backup storage is $500 and for up to 1 terabyte of backup storage is $750.

[Source: MarketWatch]

VDIworks Brings Desktop Virtualization Management to Hyper-V

by Leave a Comment

VDIworks, the young company recently spun out of ClearCube, announced it has tied its solution with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, which provides management of physical and virtual deployments throughout the data center, desktops and devices.

VDIworks released a new plug-in, VDIvision for System Center, allowing its customers to use MSCOM to manage a variety of VDIworks-driven features. The management plug-in includes a highly configurable and scalable connection broker, leveraging the power of desktop virtualization. VDIworks utilized APIs from Microsoft to ensure seamless functionality among both products.

On the heels of Microsoft’s release of Hyper-V, VDIworks is the first virtual desktop management vendor to integrate with Hyper-V and the System Center management offerings. The plugin is integrated with Active Directory so IT managers can control users’ access rights and permissions. It runs a SQL Server database at the back end in which enterprise IT can store all the components of the VDI environment so it can run reports against them and manage the environment.

VDIvision for System Center is platform-agnostic, so it can also run with the VMware and Xen hypervisors.

[Source: InternetNews]

VDIworks

Sanbolic Bridges Hyper-V And Shared Storage Networks

by Leave a Comment

Sanbolic today announced (PDF) that Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtual machines can now be stored on a single shared storage area network (SAN) storage volume using Sanbolic Kayo File System. The virtual machines can then be moved independently between physical host servers using Quick Migration because all host servers have shared access to the virtual machines.

“Kayo FS is a new product that provides file-level shared access to a SAN volume from multiple physical host servers and is designed specifically to provide a cost-effective shared LUN solution for Hyper-V virtual machines,” said Momchil Michailov, Sanbolic’s founder. “Sanbolic is already shipping Melio FS, which is an advanced clustered file system with byte-range locking that can also provide concurrent read/write access to application data on SAN storage from multiple Windows physical or virtual servers. Kayo FS is aimed at a much broader group of customers who we expect will adopt server virtualization now that it is component of the Windows Server 2008 platform.”

Sanbolic’s product portfolio also includes Melio clustered file system and LaScala volume manager, which are designed to support Windows applications which benefit from central administration of a large virtual storage pool simultaneously accessed by multiple physical or virtual servers. Melio FS uses 64 bit architecture, allowing very large volume and file system sizes.

These products can utilize any fibre channel or iSCSI storage hardware. Windows directory, reporting, and clustering features are supported. The file system also incorporates quality of service assignment to allow prioritization of defined workloads in storage bandwidth-constrained environments.

Kayo FS will be priced at $299 per host server and sold in a 5 license bundle.

[Source: Scott Lowe]

Sanbolic

NeoAccel Debuts VMware Version of Its SSL VPN-Plus, Support for More Coming

by Leave a Comment

NeoAccel has announced the VMware version of its flagship product, SSL VPN-Plus.

NeoAccel’s offering of SSL VPN-Plus under VMware consist of 3 separate options:

  1. SSL VPN-Plus & NAC-Plus running on an existing VMware Server platform;
  2. SSL VPN-Plus Evaluation Virtual Appliance for the VMware Player;
  3. Globally Managed SSL VPN-Plus Farm for ASPs/MSPs/ISPs.

All versions of SSL VPN-Plus on VMware are fully functional SSL VPN-Plus gateways purposefully built as a zero administration IPsec replacement. Standard features include clientless & full access clients, End Point Security, GUI administration, Mobile VPN, Secure Desktop support and more. NeoAccel plans to expand its virtualization offering by making SSL VPN-Plus available for other virtualization architectures in the near future.

NeoAccel’s SSL VPN-Plus is a 3rd-Generation VPN featuring patented ICAA and TSSL technology that integrates encryption and specialized TCP/network switching into the kernel level of an operating system and eliminating TCP-over-TCP meltdown performance degradation. The company says it delivers the performance of first generation VPNs (IPSec) with the ease-of-use of second generation VPNs (SSL VPN) to provide an in-office, wire-speed connection across any network environment. SSL VPN-Plus is an enterprise grade solution with a standard feature set that includes: End Point Security, Full Access Client, Portal Access, and Granular Access Control. Windows XP/Vista/CE Mobile, Linux, and Macintosh clients are fully supported.