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VMware To Debut New Products: VMware Go and vCenter Product Family

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VMware is launching two new products at VMworld, its annual conference, tomorrow.

The first is a suite of VMware’s existing virtualization solutions, called the VMware vCenter Product Family. The suite is built on top of VMware’s vSphere 4 to help enterprises create and maintain dynamic and flexible IT infrastructures.

VMware says that they have received an overwhelmingly positive response the latest generation of vSphere 4, with approximately 75 percent of customers planning to upgrade to VMware vSphere 4 within the next six months.

VMware’s second product launch is targeted towards small to medium sized businesses. VMware Go is a free beta service that makes it simple for clients to get started with virtualizing their applications. A web-based service, VMware Go will lets companies run multiple operating systems and applications on a single server, helping SMBs to spend less money on hardware, energy and server administration.

Via Between the lines.

Recommended Reading: NYTimes’ VMware vs. Microsoft

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A must-read from The New York Times blog Bits: VMware vs. Microsoft: It’s About More Than the Plumbing

I wrote an article Monday on the competition between VMware andMicrosoft in virtual machine software. Truth is, this is the sort of story that, by the standards of The New York Times, falls into the realm of subjects geeky but perhaps of broad significance. Sometimes, the importance of plumbing technology extends well beyond the purview of plumbers.

NetQoS Launches Network-Based Virtualization Management Offerings

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For all its benefits, server virtualization masks critical data that IT organizations need to ensure optimal delivery of applications across the network to end users. With new virtualization capabilities, the NetQoS Performance Center unearths this data and combines it with network and application performance information from the physical environment to show how well the entire infrastructure is supporting application delivery.

The NetQoS Performance Center bridges the gap between the virtual and physical environments by collecting and analyzing application response times, traffic flows via Cisco IOS NetFlow, and device performance statistics within multi-tiered, virtual hosts as well as into and out of the virtual environment. The new offerings include:

· NetQoS Response Time Virtual Collector: This software only version of the NetQoS Performance Center application response time monitoring capability runs as a virtual machine in VMware, Microsoft or Citrix environments to provide visibility into the communications between each virtual server residing on the same physical machine. In addition, the Virtual Collector monitors the traffic between each virtual machine and the physical infrastructure.

· NetQoS NetFlow Reporting for Virtualized Environments: The NetQoS Performance Center network traffic analysis capability now supports NetFlow statistics exported from the Cisco Nexus 1000v and the VMware vSwitch to help network groups monitor how virtual application traffic is impacting network performance.

· NetQoS Performance Center Integration with VMware vCenter: The NetQoS Performance Center retrieves device health information from the VMware vCenter API to report data such as the number of virtual machines running on a host, CPU utilization, disk usage, and memory utilization.

By integrating the performance data from these three sources in one management console, the NetQoS Performance Center is uniquely positioned to help IT organizations understand how applications are performing across the infrastructure and better manage virtualization. For instance, the ability to measure the before and after impact of infrastructure changes, isolate the source of latency to the network, application or server, and predict bandwidth consumption will help IT organizations solve problems faster and make more informed decisions about which applications to virtualize. In addition, correlating device health information alongside response time and traffic flow information in the NetQoS Performance Center is important as network groups troubleshoot latency and other performance issues in real time.

CloudStorm European Tour launches from Brussels to showcase “real” Cloud Computing Solutions

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CloudStorm, a European focused cloud computing event has announced that Brussels’ will be the inaugural venue of its tour around major European cities. The event, funded equally by its 10 participants, provides a showcase of cloud computing solutions covering a wide range of areas including application development and deployment, infrastructure, storage, video management and SAAS from leading European technology vendors.

Participants, who have just 10 minutes each to present their cloud based offering to the audience, follow a highly interactive “un-conference” format to encourage audience participation with a no-holds bared question and answer section at the end. The sponsors, in alphabetical order, include:

  • A-Server, a specialist in cloud computing platforms for service providers.
  • B-Virtual, an emerging leader in cloud storage solutions.
  • Calamares, Video Management Systems as a cloud compatible service.
  • ContactOffice, one of the first cloud-based collaboration providers.
  • Microsoft Azure, a platform for a wide range of internet services.
  • SaaSforce, a cloud based software-as-a-service distributor.
  • Sun Microsystems, a technology provider for public clouds
  • REP42, a provider of a mobile cloud services platform.
  • WDC CloudSphere, a European cloud computing service for medium enterprises.

In October, London will be the second stop for the tour with further events planned for later in the year in Paris and Munich with the same core sponsors plus additional regional cloud computing specialists. Patrick De Schutter, CEO of ContactOffice explains, “We are pleased to be involved with CloudStorm and look forward to helping to showcase real world examples of how Cloud computing can help improve a wide range of business and IT activities for a diverse set of customers.”

Attendance to CloudStorm is entirely free but the small venue means that places are limited.

Is The Virtualization Market “Up For Grabs”?

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Read-worthy article from InternetNews writer Stuart J. Johnston, claiming that the virtualization market is up for grabs based on a report by Information Technology Intelligence (ITIC), who surveyed 700 corporations worldwide and found that server virtualization deployments “have remained strong throughout the ongoing 2009 economic downturn.”

Among its conclusions are that Microsoft, despite a late start in most virtualization markets, is becoming the come-from-behind favorite, at least in the area of application virtualization.

“Thanks to the summer release of the new Hyper-V with live migration capabilities, with Hyper-V 2.0, Microsoft has substantially closed the feature/performance gap between itself and VMware’s ESX Server,” the report states.

Another top level take away for Microsoft: “Three out of five — 59 percent of the survey respondents — indicated their intent to deploy Hyper-V 2.0 within the next 12 to 18 months.”

“With Hyper-V, Microsoft has a very credible, competitive offering,” DiDio toldInternetNews.com. “Hypervisors, in general, have been commoditized” due to Microsoft’s commodity approach to virtualization.

For instance, Citrix is the market leader in desktop virtualization with a 19 percent market share.

In the same market, Microsoft holds a 15 percent share and VMware has 8 percent.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Microsoft will have the whole pie.

Full report is here.

DataCore Software Adds Support for Fibre Channel over Ethernet

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DataCore Software, a provider of storage virtualization, business continuity and disaster recovery software solutions, today announced support for native Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) connectivity for its SANmelody and SANsymphony storage virtualization solutions.

The company has added the Emulex and Brocade FCoE converged network adapters (CNAs) and Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switches to its FCoE-qualified support list. Additional FCoE CNAs will be announced over the next year. FCoE software drivers are currently available for Microsoft Windows and VMware ESX / vSphere.

FCoE is changing the way customers can use Ethernet in their data centers. DataCore customers can transition to an FCoE infrastructure while still supporting existing Fibre Channel investments – meaning greater choice and flexibility while building out their storage networks. Customers can run both FCoE and IP traffic through the same port and on the same wire, eliminating the need and expense for separate SAN and LAN adapters and cables. The ability to run FC protocol over existing Ethernet cabling is significant for network administration. It means that administrators do not need to have a separate network for running Fibre Channel protocol.

FCoE is primarily used to consolidate back-end cables in a data center – enabling network administrators to use the Ethernet infrastructure for FC and IP protocols. What is needed to make it work is a converged network adapter (CNA), which serves as an FCoE card, along with a network switch. For storage, this connects to DataCore-powered SANs using Ethernet networks – thereby connecting application servers to the virtual storage pool as easily as you would connect your desktop to a printer.