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

VMware Global Partners Support Distributed Power Management (DPM), Part of vSphere 4

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VMware today announced VMware global partners, including Dell, Fujitsu, HP, IBM and NEC have announced their support of using VMware Distributed Power Management (DPM). VMware DPM, part of the VMware vSphere 4 platform, lowers power consumption in the datacenter by aggregating unused capacity and powering off unused servers without disrupting service levels, helping customers slash energy consumption by as much as 20 percent.

VMware virtualization has received acclaim for enabling customers to reduce energy costs and consumption in certain cases by as much as 80 percent through server consolidation and dynamic migration of virtual machines across physical servers. VMware DPM provides up to 20 percent additional reduction in energy usage on top of what is possible with consolidation by automatically placing all virtual machines on the fewest number of physical servers and powering down the physical servers that are not necessary to guarantee service levels to applications. A typical use case would be powering down physical servers at night or on weekends when the application loads decrease; as application loads increase at the beginning of the working day, VMware DPM would power on servers and again redistribute the applications.

3PAR Announces Cloud-Agile Partner Program

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3PAR announced today the 3PAR Cloud-Agile program, a new partnership initiative to promote the adoption of cloud computing and cloud-based services offered by leading providers with infrastructures powered by 3PAR Utility Storage. The 3PAR Cloud-Agile program gives partners the opportunity to promote differentiated virtual private array (VPA) and disaster recovery (DR) offerings under the respective names 3PAR Cloud-Agile: SECURED and 3PAR Cloud-Agile: ASSURED.

3PAR created the Cloud-Agile program in response to an increase in demand for enterprise IT delivered as a utility service and a corresponding uptake in 3PAR Utility Storage adoption among leading IT hosting providers. Seven of the world’s top 10 revenue-generating managed service providers as identified by the “Winter 2009 Managed Hosting Report” issued by Tier1 Research use 3PAR Utility Storage as the storage foundation for their cloud-based service offerings.

The Cloud-Agile program is designed to raise awareness for the cost and agility benefits of cloud computing services and encourage the development of a mutually beneficial, robust cloud computing ecosystem. Program participation is limited to leading hosting providers using 3PAR Utility Storage as a strategic element of their cloud-based service offerings.

3PAR Cloud-Agile program participants such as Attenda, DataPipe, Terremark, and Verizon Business say their utility storage infrastructures — built on 3PAR InServ® Storage Servers — have enabled them to distinguish themselves with an agility that is lacking from others in their market. These companies share a significant investment in 3PAR Utility Storage, which has provided a strategic advantage by enabling them to handle unpredictable growth, control costs, accelerate book-to-bill cycles, assure service levels, and efficiently deliver value-added services. For these companies, service request response times have been reduced to minutes versus days, weeks, or even months with 3PAR.

For 3PAR Cloud-Agile partners, 3PAR Utility Storage has also contributed to savings on facilities and infrastructure costs while significantly reducing storage administration time. This has meant improved time-to-revenue, lower storage total cost of ownership (TCO), and tighter alignment between costs and revenues. For example, in a survey of 3PAR’s cloud computing service provider customers, 69% of IT organizations estimated that, by using 3PAR Utility Storage to power their cloud computing services, they have saved 40% or more in total capacity as compared to traditional storage alternatives.

Under the terms of the program, participants receive expert technical training to enhance the quality of the cloud-based services that these providers are able to offer to end users. The program also offers a combination of lead sharing, sales training, and joint marketing to increase selling opportunities and grow awareness of the benefits of cloud computing. In addition, under the program, participating providers have the opportunity to offer enhanced services built on 3PAR Utility Storage under the names 3PAR Cloud-Agile: SECURED and 3PAR Cloud-Agile: ASSURED.

PrimaCloud Deploys Xsigo Virtual I/O To Deliver Enterprise-Class Cloud Computing

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Xsigo Systems announced today that PrimaCloud, a leading managed cloud computing services provider, has deployed the Xsigo I/O Director as the foundation of its new service offering.

The virtual I/O architecture allows customers to provision a complete virtual private data center in just five minutes, a task that would otherwise require days or weeks. With Xsigo, PrimaCloud maintains 99.99% uptime at 50% less cost and in 85% less physical data center space than would otherwise be possible. Capital and operational cost savings enabled by Xsigo virtual I/O are expected to exceed $1 million in the company’s first year of operation.

Xsigo virtual I/O allowed PrimaCloud to deploy a fault-tolerant architecture based on highly-dense, quad server systems that package 48 processing cores within a compact 2U high chassis, reducing data center space requirements by 85% compared with conventional 4U high servers. By providing 40 Gb of bandwidth to each server while consuming only two PCI slots, Xsigo virtual I/O allowed PrimaCloud to deliver superior performance from more than 200 virtual machines per 2U system, a compute density that is believed to be the industry’s highest.

Xsigo virtual I/O was deployed in conjunction with VMware ESX software and Enigmatec’s EMS cross-platform policy-based automation solution. The combination allows configuration changes to be completed entirely in software — either manually or automatically — eliminating the need to visit the data center. When adding physical server resources, installation only requires connecting two I/O cables, reducing configuration time by 90%.

Sourcefire Launches Virtual 3D Partner Program

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Sourcefire has announced its Virtual 3D Partner Program, providing cloud computing companies and OEMs the ability to leverage the new Sourcefire Virtual 3D Sensor and Sourcefire Virtual Defense Center to efficiently and effectively increase customer protection.

The Sourcefire Virtual 3D Partner Program is designed to provide hardware, software and services companies with virtual security solutions to address their customer’s critical requirements.

The Sourcefire Virtual 3D Partners can utilize the recently announced Virtual 3D Sensor and Virtual Defense Center, which provide users with the flexibility to deploy the company’s leading security solutions within their virtual environments for increased protection of both physical and virtual assets. These new virtual appliances can inspect traffic between virtual machines, while also making it easier to deploy and manage sensors at remote sites where resource may be limited. They also enable partners to easily implement Sourcefire’s leading security solutions on existing customer hardware or within a cloud infrastructure for increased protection.

Quantum Debuts esXpress Software Module

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Quantum has unveiled Quantum esXpress software module, which optimizes Quantum’s DXi-Series disk backup and replication systems to back up and restore VMware ESX virtual servers.

Extending the power of Quantum’s patented data deduplication technology, esXpress and the DXi-Series together eliminate the need for physical servers to initiate a backup job and move data, and make WAN-based replication more affordable, providing an automated approach to replicating files to remote disaster recovery sites. This valuable combination lowers the cost of VMware data protection and optimizes the virtual infrastructure.

Quantum’s esXpress software module is available for the entire DXi-Series of deduplication and replication solutions, which dramatically reduces bandwidth and disk requirements for transmitting and storing data. The DXi-Series provides powerful advantages for virtual environments, eliminating duplicate data that virtual machines create, reducing storage needs for end users and streamlining backup. While the DXi-Series supports all of the leading backup software applications, the new esXpress software module is specifically designed to offer optimized backup for VMware servers.

With esXpress and the DXi-Series, Quantum combines innovative backup software with deduplication and replication technology to shorten backup windows, without adding servers to support data backup and restoration. Quantum’s esXpress also features a policy-based approach to installations and configurations which can significantly reduce deployment times when adding ESX servers. With its powerful deduplication technology and intelligent replication capabilities, Quantum’s DXi-Series is a compelling solution for organizations with both traditional and virtual backup needs, addressing cost, bandwidth and scalability concerns.

Quantum and its network of value-added resellers offer two versions of the esXpress software module: the Professional and Enterprise editions, to provide a range of capabilities for managing concurrent backup jobs per ESX server. Every DXi2500-D, DXi3500, DXi7500 Express and DXi7500 includes the right to a license for a free copy of esXpress Professional software, intended for use on one VMware ESX server regardless of the amount of storage or the number of virtual machines protected, which can support up to four Virtual Backup Appliances (VBAs). This esXpress Professional license is included at no additional cost, and phone-based installation is provided free of charge. Subsequent esXpress Professional licenses (MSRP $950) also support up to four VBAs each and for $950 can be upgraded to esXpress Enterprise (MSRP $1,850) which supports up to 16 VBAs per ESX server.

Devon IT Thin Client Models Now VMware View 3.1 Certified

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Devon IT has announced that its TC2, TC5, and SafeBook LVO thin client models are VMware View 3.1 Desktop Virtualization (VDI) certified.

This designation indicates the models have completed the VMware Hardware Certification Program testing criteria for use with VMware View 3.1 and are now listed on the VMware Hardware Compatibility Guide. The VMware Hardware Certification Program enables VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program members to provide mutual customers with jointly supported hardware solutions.

Passing the extensive certification testing helps ensure that Devon IT is compatible with VMware technology and ready for deployment in customer environments.

The VMware Ready program is a VMware co-branding program for qualified partner products and is a benefit of the VMware TAP program. With more than 1,000 members worldwide, the VMware TAP program works with best-of-breed technology partners to provide them a comprehensive set of VMware technical and marketing services, support, tools and expertise to deliver enhanced value to joint customers.