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LineSider Technologies has announced OverDrive, a network services virtualization platform that enables enterprises and service providers to automate the provisioning and deployment of network services in cloud computing environments.

OverDrive is a software network virtualization solution that automates and orchestrates end-to-end service delivery by virtualizing discreet network services in response to changes occurring to dynamic resources such as users, applications, virtual compute, physical compute and storage. As resources are moved or changed, OverDrive automatically modifies and changes the underlying network infrastructure based on business policies that define the relationship between users, computing, and network resources.

Datacenters, users and applications have all become fluid elements in this new flexible computing model however networks were not designed for this new dynamic reality. They are still static. Every time an application, computer or storage resource changes in the virtual datacenter, there needs to be manual intervention to provision network services or repair broken security and access models. Without OverDrive a single request to move a critical application to a new physical or virtual location could easily require hundreds of separate device-level configuration updates that could take weeks to implement manually across a fully deployed network or data center. With OverDrive the entire process takes seconds, and more importantly the security models are still intact.

OverDrive orchestrates real-time automation and control of network services including access and security across both the logical and physical network based on business policies. Business policies are automatically translated into device-level configurations that dynamically create and adjust network services in real-time as changes in the dynamic computing environment occur.

Key features include:

· Business Policy Driven – OverDrive orchestrates real-time automation and control of network services based on business policies that define the relationship between users, computing, and network resources.
· Automates Device Level Configurations – Business policies are automatically translated into device-level configurations that dynamically create and adjust network services including access and security, in real-time, across both physical and virtual network devices as changes in the dynamic computing environment.
· Automates Network Service Delivery – OverDrive policies control and define the underlying network infrastructure services that provide end user access and security to both physical and virtual resources. These services include: Routing, VPN, Switching, VLAN, Firewall Ports and Protocols, ACL (firewall and switch), DNS, DHCP, Security (ACL / 802.1x), Remote Access / Mobile User, Identity Based Network Access Control
· Ensures Secure Access – OverDrive ensures that underlying access and security parameters remain in effect and will automatically notify administrators if a defined access or security policy is violated.
· Identifies Potential Conflicts – OverDrive understands the complex interdependencies between resources in both physical and virtual computing environments and alerts the network administrator about configuration, access, and security conflicts prior impacting the production environment.
· Ensures Compliance – OverDrive provides a complete solution that satisfies multiple audit controls and reporting requirements for Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPPA, PCI and other federal mandates in regulated industries.
· Integrates into Existing Network Support Platforms

Catbird has announced the launch and immediate availability of its new vSecurity Cloud Edition, the first solution designed specifically to enable both public and private cloud computing providers to instantly deliver SOX, PCI, HIPAA, FISMA, COBIT, DIACAP and other regulatory-based security and compliance policy monitoring and enforcement.

vSecurity Cloud Edition was previewed at last month’s VMworld 2009, for which it was honored with a Best of Show Finalist award, the first security product to win in the Cloud Computing category.

vSecurity Cloud Edition gives service providers the competitive edge with the industry’s only automated monitoring and enforcement solution that covers all seven critical control areas: auditing, inventory management, configuration management, change management, access control, vulnerability management and incident response, in an elegant solution specifically architected to meet the needs of cloud providers.

Catbird is the only virtualization security product offered by Amazon Web Services’ Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) web service, which provides instantly-scalable cloud-based computing capacity to meet evolving enterprise needs. Customers of Amazon’s EC2 now have the option of adding automated, continuous vulnerability monitoring to their Amazon Machine Image with Catbird’s vSecurity Cloud Edition. Organizations regulated by PCI or other policies that demand compliance can take advantage of Amazon’s state-of-the art cloud while remaining compliant, enhancing Amazon’s value proposition and accelerating growth in this increasingly-popular space.

vSecurity Cloud Edition delivers comprehensive coverage to ensure cloud service providers meet their customer mandates, including:

• SOX compliance measurement and reporting across 39 COBIT controls;
• PCI compliance measurement and reporting across 96 test requirements impacted by virtualization;
• HIPAA compliance measurement and reporting across 37 controls negatively impacted by virtualization;
• DIACAP compliance measurement and reporting across all 26 controls affected by virtualization, including the 12 Mac1 controls;
• COBIT compliance measurement across over 40 controls affected by virtualization, and
• FISMA compliance and reporting across 51 controls.

Among numerous protection and enforcement features, vSecurity Cloud Edition provides:

• 24×7 vulnerability management with a fully compliant scanner that is automatically correlated with other virtual machine attributes to provide an accurate assessment of known defects against a specific and customizable compliance framework.
• NAC-based enforcement for continuous monitoring of the virtual machine population, real-time inventory management, and the most accurate real-time VM catalog and virtual machine sprawl prevention
• A multi-tenant management portal that provides compliance intelligence aggregation, management and reporting across physical, virtual, private and public clouds from a single dashboard, while ensuring the privacy of customer or departmental data.

Essential for cloud providers is customizable, real-time reporting on the compliance and security status of the customer’s applications and systems, tailored for the appropriate audience ranging from executive-level managers to technical IT administrators.

Catbird vSecurity Cloud Edition has already been embraced by cloud providers and platform vendors whose customer base demands broad-based security and compliance.

Ideal for both public and private clouds, vSecurity Cloud Edition features a Service-Oriented Architecture that incorporates stateless agents reporting to a separate command center. Full integration with ESX 3.X, vSphere 4.x and up and Citrix XenServer enables seamless deployment in cross-platform environments. Infinitely scalable, vSecurity Cloud Edition allows cloud providers to seamlessly add clouds to existing infrastructure, without additional investment in security and compliance. For public clouds, SLA enforcement provides value-added assurance for clients.

INX’s Architecture Certified Engineer program (A.C.E.) has been developed to create a top tier certification around virtualized data center architecture for existing INX senior engineering staff through training, labs and hands on development. By using existing certifications from Cisco Systems, NetApp, and VMware along with a unique set of INX additional requirements, INX’s A.C.E. certification program creates a strong foundation for architecting virtualized data center and cloud computing architectures for enterprises.

Jonathan Groves, Vice President of Services for INX:

“Most of our key technology manufacturer partners, such as Cisco Systems, VMware and NetApp, have their own set of engineering certifications related to their respective point solutions, but customers need architecture approaches to solving their technology infrastructure requirements. INX has created this new program to ensure that our engineers have the additional training and experience to architect comprehensive solutions that include multiple vendors in a virtualized data center or cloud computing environment. There is no industry accepted multi-vendor high-level certification for virtualized data center or cloud computing architectures in the market today so we created our own.” Groves added, “The A.C.E. program is the most challenging multi-vendor certification program I have seen and exceeds any single vendor’s program requirements in our industry.” The A.C.E. certification for the Data Center Architect includes certifications from Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCDX) and NetApp (NCIE), as well as additional INX written and field experience requirements.

INX will develop additional A.C.E. certifications for other advanced technology infrastructure architectures.

A.C.E. program requirements for Unified Communications and Collaboration architectures will be released in November of 2009.

Veeam Software says it has achieved a major breakthrough in full and incremental backup speeds with version 4.0 of Veeam Backup & Replication.

The new capabilities are due in part to the product’s ability to leverage advanced functionality in VMware vSphere 4, especially the new changed block tracking and thin-provisioned disks features.

Now generally available, version 4.0 is one of the first products to support the new VMware vSphere 4 vStorage APIs for Data Protection. Veeam Backup & Replication takes full advantage of VMware vSphere 4 thin-provisioned disks, enabling faster full backups and restores of virtual machines. It also gives VMware administrators the ability to leverage VMware vSphere 4 changed block tracking for performance improvements that beta customers report as more than ten times faster than the previous version of Veeam Backup & Replication.

These technological advancements within VMware vSphere 4 and the VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection take data protection to the next level in Veeam Backup & Replication 4.0. Beta customers reported the following benefits derived from native support of thin-provisioned disks and changed block tracking:

• Incremental backup and replication is 10 or more times faster (for typical VMs and workloads)
• Full backup and replication is up to five times faster
• Changed block tracking allows for replication cycles as fast as one to three minutes, resulting in near continuous data protection (CDP) at a fraction of the cost of traditional CDP, making it affordable to customers of all sizes
• Primary and backup storage costs decreased by nearly 30 percent

Veeam Backup & Replication 4.0 also introduces the concept of “centralized backup, decentralized recovery” with its Enterprise Manager. This allows companies to scale the backup infrastructure in distributed enterprise environments by deploying multiple backup servers. Enterprise Manager centralizes the backup process, which includes centralized backup configuration as well as reporting and alerting. It also provides decentralization and delegation of recovery based on groups of applications (e.g. Microsoft Exchange Servers), geography, administrative, security and other business specifications.

Veeam Backup & Replication 4.0 is now generally available. North American pricing for the new version starts at $599 per socket, but the previous version’s price of $499 per socket will be honored on orders placed by Dec. 31, 2009.

Unity Technologies, the San Francisco company behind the multi-platform game development platform for PC, Mac, Wii and Web games, has closed its first round of funding.

The Series A financing was led by Sequoia Capital and also included some Silicon Valley notables like David Gardner, the CEO of Atari, and Diane Greene, founder and former CEO of VMware.

The co-founder and former CEO of VMware will also be joining the startup’s board of directors along with Roelof Botha, partner at Sequoia.

(Via TechCrunch)

VMware today announced the availability of VMware Workstation 7.

With Windows 7 support, enhanced 3D graphics, and many new and refined features, VMware Workstation 7 continues to transform the way technical professionals develop, test, demo and deploy software. The improvements help developers, QA engineers, sales professionals and IT administrators reduce hardware costs and streamline tasks, saving time and improving productivity.

VMware Workstation 7 is the most powerful, reliable and secure desktop virtualization product with the most comprehensive feature set. Enhancements include:

• Best in Class Windows 7 Support. VMware Workstation 7 is optimized for maximum performance when running on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 PCs and works seamlessly with Flip 3D and Aero Peek to show live virtual machine activity.
• The Best 3D Graphics. Run even more 3D applications with support for Windows Aero, DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3 and OpenGL 2.1 in Windows virtual machines.
• Features Designed for Professionals. VMware Workstation 7 streamlines software development and testing with new IDE integrations for the SpringSource Tools Suite and Eclipse IDE for Java & C/C++ along with Record Replay Debugging improvements that make it faster to find non-deterministic bugs.
• Most Advanced Virtualization Capabilities. Run 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems with up to four virtual CPUs and 32GB of RAM dedicated to each virtual machine.

VMware Workstation 7 is now available for download for $189.00. Upgrades from prior versions of VMware Workstation are available for $99.00. VMware Workstation can also be purchased through VMware’s network of resellers and distributors.