Virtualization.com

The Knowledge Base Team at VMware announced the availability of a brand new browser toolbar that will help end users and VMware Tech Support stay in touch with one another and stay informed about updates, patches, documentation information and more.

The new toolbar works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.  The toolbar makes use of RSS feeds, Twitter feeds and even supports chat to communicate with VMware staff and experts on hand.

• Instant access to patches, documentation, and more.
• Built-in RSS and Twitter updates direct from Tech Support.
• Live peer to peer chat lets you ask for help from other VMware experts and staff.
• Custom search capabilities.
• Works on IE, Firefox, Safari.
• No spyware; secure, safe, and private.

GTSI recently announced key findings from a recently conducted survey on the state of virtualization in the federal government.

Developed by the Government Business Council (GBC) in partnership with GTSI and Oracle Corporation, the survey reveals the many hurdles faced by federal agencies in implementing virtualization and cloud computing.  The results are of particular importance given the raised levels of government IT activity driven by the recent Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Federal Data Center Initiative. The OMB mandate requires all agencies to take decisive steps toward reducing the costs of maintaining more than 1,100 disparate federal data centers.

Key findings from this in-depth virtualization study include:

• Many federal executives are unfamiliar with virtualization: one-third (33 percent) of survey respondents say they have no knowledge of the concept of virtualization.  A minority (13 percent) describe themselves as “very familiar,” while 54 percent have some intermediate level of understanding.
• Eighty-four percent of federal executives say that virtualization would benefit their agency. Respondents identify a number of incentives for their agency to virtualize their IT environments. Ranking high among these are COOP and disaster recovery and “greener” IT operations, which can reduce data sprawl and energy usage.
• Virtualization faces many roadblocks at agencies, with 65 percent of federal executives citing “implementation difficulties,” 63 percent indicating “operational/management difficulties,” and 62 percent noting “end users’ misconceptions about virtualization control and governance.”
• Federal executives cited the top two effective strategies for facilitating adoption of a virtualized environment as “education and/or training” (57 percent) and “government mandates and standards” (47 percent).

“Federal government agencies continue to be under pressure to control costs, increase energy efficiency, and maintain security,” said Mohamed Elrefai, GTSI VP Enterprise Solutions Group and Marketing. “To achieve those requirements, federal agencies are adopting virtualization as a key component of their consolidation and optimization strategies.  However, as the survey shows, respondents are challenged with how to effectively implement and operate virtualized environments, while addressing security and governance policies. At GTSI, we’ve seen this trend ourselves and help our federal customers on a regular basis migrate to and operate their virtualized IT environments.”

The survey findings will be explored in detail on Tuesday, April 27, at 2:00 PM ET, when GBC, GTSI, and Oracle present a complimentary webinar entitled, “Virtually There: The Federal View of Virtualization Present and Future.”

VMware this week announced financial results for the first quarter 2010:

• Revenues for the first quarter were $634 million, an increase of 35% from the first quarter of 2009.
• GAAP operating income for the first quarter was $102 million, an increase of 18% from the first quarter of 2009.  Non-GAAP operating income for the first quarter was $175 million, an increase of 45% from the first quarter of 2009.
• GAAP net income for the first quarter was $78 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, compared to $70 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2009. Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter was $133 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, compared to $100 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2009.
• Cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2010 were $2.8 billion, an increase of 36% compared to a year ago. Total deferred revenues were $1.4 billion, an increase of 48% from the same period a year ago.
• Operating cash flows were $355 million, an increase of 37% from the first quarter of 2009. Free cash flows for the quarter were $326 million, an increase of 68% from the first quarter of 2009.  For the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2010, operating cash flows were $1.1 billion and free cash flows were $972 million.

US revenues for the first quarter increased 30% to $317 million from the first quarter of 2009.  International revenues for the first quarter grew 40% to $317 million from the first quarter of 2009.

License revenues were $312 million, an increase of 21% from the first quarter of 2009.
Services revenues, which include software maintenance and professional services, were $322 million, an increase of 51% from the first quarter of 2009.

“The quarter’s strong performance reinforces our position that virtualization is becoming a cornerstone for customer’s IT strategy, particularly since it enables them an evolutionary path forward to cloud computing,” said Paul Maritz, president and chief executive officer.  “With this broad acceptance of virtualization, it allows us to maintain an innovative and aggressive strategy to help remove complexity from IT and deliver on our vision of enabling IT-as-a-service.”

Recent Highlights & Strategic Announcements

• VMware Partner Exchange 2010 broke the event’s 2009 attendance and sponsorship records with more than 2,600 attendees and 55 sponsors, including Arrow ECS, Cisco, EMC, HP, Ingram Micro, NetApp, Novell, Trend Micro and Wyse.
• VMware announced a definitive agreement with EMC to acquire certain products and expertise from EMC’s Ionix IT management business, including solutions aimed at delivering improved management and deployment of servers and applications in a virtualized data center.
• VMware announced programs for the Small and Medium Business (SMB) market including the availability of VMware Go, a Web-based service that provides an easy on-ramp to virtualization, and the promotion of vSphere Essentials, offering up to 50% off the list price for SMBs.
• Cisco and NetApp, along with VMware introduced a Secure Multi-tenancy Design Architecture designed to provide enhanced security in cloud environments.

Virtual Bridges, makers of the VERDE suite for desktop management, VDI and provisioning, today announced a breakthrough first quarter in 2010, further validating the company’s leading role in the exploding desktop virtualization market.

The firm added a number of new customers, including a world-renowned motorcycle manufacturer; launched the industry’s first comprehensive solution for hosted desktop virtualization with market-leader Rackspace; and received acknowledgement from industry expert Brian Madden for the company’s strong performance in an evaluation of the leading vendors in desktop virtualization.

One of the world’s foremost motorcycle manufacturersCustomers selecting the VERDE desktop virtualization solution include:

• A large K-12 school system
• A leading European oil refining company

For each of these diverse organizations, the basis for the selection of VERDE was consistent: compelling TCO with significant CAPEX reduction, and ease of deployment and management, clearly differentiating the company from complex and more expensive competitive desktop virtualization offerings.

Last month, Virtual Bridges announced the availability of VERDE Hosted Powered by Rackspace, the world’s leader in the hosting and cloud computing industry.

This new offering provides the first and most comprehensive hosted desktop virtualization solution for VDI, disconnected, and branch-office desktop users worldwide. Complementing Virtual Bridges’ VERDE On-premise desktop virtualization, VERDE Hosted addresses an organization’s unique requirements for infrastructure, CAPEX and OPEX budgets, and payment options, providing additional TCO reduction.

The company also added a number of partners worldwide:

• ZSL — Global
• Govirtual – Korea
• Clearmanage — Singapore

In March, Virtual Bridges participated in a vendor shootout conducted by desktop virtualization industry experts Brian Madden and Gabe Knuth comparing VERDE installation and testing against desktop virtualization solutions from Citrix, VMware, Microsoft and Quest. The participating vendors were selected by readers of Brian Madden’s website and blog. The objectives of the shootout included an evaluation of setup complexity, provisioning performance and user experience during a one-day product test.