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

Smart Marketing: Marathon Technologies Shares Tips On Server Virtualization

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Marathon Technologies, who recently announced availability of its everRun VM virtualization tool set, has issued a press release today, offering “top tips to know before starting with server virtualization”. Smart marketing as far as we’re concerned; we’ll let you be the judge of the quality.

Marathon Technologies

You can find all 5 tips on Marathon’s blog, so we won’t spoil it for them and only give away the headlines:

  1. Make the business case for server virtualization
  2. Consider the license and support implications
  3. Afford to spend the time to plan
  4. Assess levels of application availability and risk to business continuity
  5. Demonstrate that virtualization won’t impact end users

You can find the whole list with explanation on ‘Are you available tonight?‘, the company’s blog.

Marathon also has a webinar recording available with John Humphreys, Program Vice President, Virtualization Software for IDC, “Making the Case for Server Virtualization,” in which John provides essential guidance in making your business case.

[Source: Marketwire]

Phoenix Buys TouchStone

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Phoenix Technologies recently announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire TouchStone Software Corporation, a company specialized in computer diagnostics and development of PC update technology. Under the terms of the agreement, TouchStone shareholders will receive $1.48 in cash for each share of TouchStone common stock, representing a 29% premium over the closing price of TouchStone’s stock on April 9, 2008.

Phoenix Technologies

TouchStone Software Corporation

According to the press release, Phoenix Technologies’ acquisition of TouchStone will enable the company to develop a strong online presence and infrastructure for web-based service delivery. Phoenix will offer services based on TouchStone technology to PC OEMs/ODMs, SMBs and consumers, as well as incorporate the technology into its own products.

“Following close on the heels of our BeInSync announcement, this acquisition is yet another giant leap forward in our effort to simplify all aspects of the PC user experience,” said Woody Hobbs, President and CEO of Phoenix Technologies. “Our PC 3.0 vision is all about simplifying PC users’ lives. With the acquisition of TouchStone, we are taking PC management technology to the ‘one-click’ level as well as strengthening our ability to support online delivery models. We are also broadening our opportunities for new market share gains and new sources of revenue via the web.”

The acquisition, which is expected to close in Q2 of 2008, is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by the stockholders of TouchStone. special meeting of TouchStone’s stockholders will be scheduled as soon as practicable following the preparation and filing of proxy materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

You might remember Phoenix Technologies was the company that reportedly put pressure on Microsoft by filing a complaint with regulators sometime after early November 2007, arguing that Microsoft should open the less-expensive versions of Vista to virtualization (which it did).

[Source: VMBlog]

Reading Tip: “Do Hypervisors Need A Supravisor?”

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Check out this article on IT-Analysis.com from Clive Longbottom, Head of Research at Quocirca.

After a good overview of the current virtualization market, he asks himself and readers if there is a need for a ‘supravisor’ on top of existing hypervisors, by which he means a way of providing a high-speed, ultra-transparent means of abstracting the abstraction layer, giving a fully standardized platform under which different hypervisors can operate.

Well worth the read, here’s an abstract:

“What it all points to is the likelihood that an organisation will end up with a heterogeneous virtualised environment, with 2 or more main virtualisation technologies creating issues for management, provisioning and auditing of the environment.

One of the main needs here will be for image management. A function or application that is needed has to be provisioned into the virtualised environment. The best way of doing this is from virtual images. Unfortunately, a virtual image saved on a VMware platform (often known as a virtual appliance) cannot be easily deployed under a different virtualised environment, as the images are dependent on the proprietary form of the specific virtualisation engine.”

…

“This supravisor need not be massively intelligent itself—it may be that all that is required is a means of carrying out fast V2V image translations and ensuring that a management console understands what the underlying environment is before provisioning. It may be something more—something that means that a single image can be used directly on top of a standardised layer. It may be that as time goes on, a supravisor subsumes the existing virtualisation technologies already in use. The ones who could do this are the systems management vendors—the likes of IBM Tivoli, CA, HP and BMCs and Microsoft—but will they?”

Read the full article here.

HP To Support Citrix XenDesktop Across ProLiant Servers And Compaq Thin Clients

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HP today announced it plans to support Citrix XenDesktop upon its availability next month across its HP ProLiant server and HP Compaq thin client product lines.

HP logo

Citrix XenDesktop, currently in beta, is a complete desktop virtualization solution that makes desktop delivery simple, secure and cost-effective. HP, one of the world’s leading thin-client providers, is delivering integrated access to XenDesktop deployments to provide customers with thin clients that enhance the user experience and reduce IT costs through what the company dubs “simplified lifecycle management”.

“HP offers a broad range of desktop solutions that make virtualization a reality for a very wide range of worker and IT infrastructure types,” said Roberto Moctezuma, vice president and general manager, Desktop Solutions Organization, HP. “The combination of HP virtualization and Citrix’s XenDesktop will provide IT departments with an excellent solution for simple and secure management of their desktop base while providing users an optimal computing experience.”

The addition of XenDesktop support also builds on HP’s recent introduction of HP ProLiant iVirtualization powered by Citrix XenServer. This combination allows HP customers to easily take advantage of Citrix’s full application and desktop delivery solutions to help make their IT infrastructures more flexible and dynamic from the desktop to the data center.

[Source: press release]

Illumita Renames Itself To Skytap, Launches Skytap Virtual Lab And Appoints Scott Roza As CEO

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Seattle-based virtualization startup Illumita has changed its name to Skytap and unveiled details around its first product, dubbed Skytap Virtual Lab. The company was started as a project by University of Washington computer scientists.

Skytap logo

Skytap raised $6 million in Series A funding last summer from Madrona Venture Group, Ignition Partners, Bezos Expeditions and WRF Capital, and is now also announcing Scott Roza as CEO.

Roza, who joined the company earlier this year after stints at Hewlett Packard, iConclude and ADIC, said he was excited to work with some of the former board members from iConclude on “a product that sits at the crossroads of three hot areas of technology: virtualization, cloud computing and software as a service”.

Skytap Virtual Lab is a virtual lab automation solution available as a service over the Web. It enables application development and test teams to provision lab infrastructure on demand (including servers, software, networking and storage) and utilize a powerful virtual lab management application to automate the set-up, testing and tear down of complex, multi-tiered environments. It also gives distributed teams the capability to collaborate and rapidly resolve software defects using a virtual lab and virtual project environment.

“Skytap provides customers with cloud-based services that enable them to capitalize on the wave of virtualization technology sweeping the industry,” said Scott Roza, chief executive officer of Skytap. “Cloud computing is gaining traction because a growing percentage of companies are demanding solutions that deliver value quickly, scale with business need, and don’t have the risk of an in-house implementation. Skytap’s Virtual Lab, which combines cloud-based virtualized infrastructure with an industry leading lab automation application, has tremendous potential to improve the timely delivery of quality applications to the business while increasing lab efficiency and lowering cost.”

[Source: Seattlepi.com]