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VMware Buys Blue Lane (Updated)

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VMware went shopping and came back home with Cupertino-based Blue Lane Technologies. Despite the lack of press releases, this transaction was confirmed by Mary Ann Gallo, VMware’s head of Global Public Relations. Unfortunately she could not disclose the financial details.

Update: according to Brenon Daly from The 451 Group, the price was around $15 million, and Blue Lane was in search for a buyer since last Summer because of lack of sufficient capital. He also mentions Blue Lane raised “some $18.4m in two rounds of funding”, but our information keeps it at $13.4m.

The acquired company provides solutions that secure virtual and physical data centers. Its solution secures servers and VMs by controlled code execution in the network and taking appropriate countermeasures against traffic aimed at known software vulnerabilities (without signatures).

Blue Lane was quite silent after releasing VirtualShield 4.2 last April. We interviewed Greg Ness, former VP of Marketing with Blue Lane (and avid blogger) and Thierry Evangelista, Technical Director Europe for the company at VMworld Europe earlier this year.

This acquisition confirms VMware’s commitment to virtualization security or VirtSec in short.

Blue Lane was founded in 2002 and has raised $13.4 million to date in two financing rounds from Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Matrix Partners. According to Greg Ness, who left the company last July to join Infoblox, Blue Lane has around 40 employees.

Below, you can find 3 embedded videos encompassing a long interview we did with Ness last June when he was still with the company.


Interview BlueLane Greg Ness 1/3 from Toon Vanagt on Vimeo.


Interview BlueLane Greg Ness part 2/3 from Toon Vanagt on Vimeo.


Interview BlueLane Greg Ness 3/3 from Toon Vanagt on Vimeo.

Thanks to Virtualization.info for the news.

Blue Lane Technologies

IBM Unveils Research Initiative PHANTOM, Aims To Protect Virtual Servers Better

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IBM recently announced a breakthrough in safeguarding virtual server environments and introduced new software to help businesses better manage risk. The company said the advances can provide businesses with substantial improvements in securing information, applications, and IT infrastructures around the globe.

IBM logo

IBM, the company that pioneered the concept of virtualization with its mainframe systems, is tackling the security issue with Project PHANTOM, an initiative that’s so secret that IBM won’t even say what the name means. This is part of the announcement that was made:

IBM’s PHANTOM initiative aims to create virtualization security technology to efficiently monitor and disrupt malicious communications between virtual machines without being compromised. In addition, full visibility of virtual hardware resources would allow PHANTOM to monitor the execution state of virtual machines, protecting them against both known and unknown threats before they occur. It is also designed to increase the security posture of the hypervisor — a critical point of vulnerability; because once an attacker gains control of the hypervisor, they gain control of all of the machines running on the virtualized platform. For the first time, the hypervisor — the gateway to the virtualized world and all that lays above it — can be locked down.

Ars Technica had a call with the people at IBM. The company was still not willing to talk in any detail about it, but I did learn some important information that answers the questions I raised in my original post, which I’ve included below in its own section.

For starters, PHANTOM is not one particular technology, but rather a widespread research initiative within IBM that will eventually result in a range of products, services, best practices whitepapers, etc.. The initiative was started two years ago as a collaboration among various hardware and software groups within IBM, and has since expanded to embrace some third parties whose identities IBM isn’t revealing just yet. The internal groups involved in the initiative include IBM’s X-Force Threat Analysis Service (a division of IBM’s Internet Security Systems), IBM Watson research center, and the server platform groups behind the z- and p-series servers, among others.

IBM stressed to me that the initiative will produce results for a wide variety of hardware/software combinations, including x86 systems, Windows, Linux, POWER, and others. So the scope of PHANTOM, broadly defined, includes all virtualization platforms, products, and services.

Clearly, whatever else it is, PHANTOM is also extremely ambitious. It’s also still mostly under wraps, so we’ll have to wait for more announcements before giving further details.

Release: CA Access Control for Virtual Environments

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CA Technologies recently announced CA Access Control for Virtual Environments, a new solution that extends its identity and access management (IAM) security expertise, and complements and protects VMware virtual environments.

CA Access Control for Virtual Environments helps customers virtualize critical applications by addressing security and compliance concerns, and helping control privileged user access to the virtual environment.

CA Access Control for Virtual Environments is available direct from CA Technologies or through its partner channel.

Tech Data Teams Up With VMware To Deliver VMware vSphere 5

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Tech Data Corporation has announced that it has partnered with VMware to deliver VMware vSphere 5 to its channel of over 60,000 resellers in the United States.

VMware vSphere 5 is available for live, remote, or virtual demos at Tech Data’s onsite VMware Transformation Center, providing resellers with expert-led sales and technical training to differentiate and optimize their businesses through offering virtualization and cloud computing solutions based on VMware technologies.

“VMware vSphere® 5 presents an immediate opportunity for VMware partners to capitalize on the growing interest in cloud computing by building secure, private clouds for their customers”
“We are excited to add VMware vSphere® 5 to our virtualization offering in Tech Data’s Advance Infrastructure Systems (AIS) group,” said Amy Belcher, Vice President of Virtualization and Storage Product Marketing at Tech Data. “VMware vSphere 5 is one of the industry’s most complete platforms and will enable our resellers to provide their customers with an efficient, simplified virtualization opportunity. We are also pleased to offer the VMware Transformation Center as a resource for both our resellers and their customers to experience the latest technology from VMware and other leading IT vendors.”

The VMware vSphere 5 virtualization and cloud infrastructure platform creates increased efficiency through utilization and automation, lower capital and operating costs, and quick responses to business needs without sacrificing security or control. VMware vSphere 5 and the company’s cloud infrastructure suite are supported by more than 25,000 partners, including technology partners, independent software vendors (ISVs), solution providers, service providers, and systems integrators, as well as every major global hardware manufacturer, helping users effectively respond to the growing needs of their business and gain confidence in their IT transformation.

“VMware vSphere® 5 presents an immediate opportunity for VMware partners to capitalize on the growing interest in cloud computing by building secure, private clouds for their customers,” said Doug Smith, Vice President of Global Partner Strategy and Operations at VMware. “In the VMware Transformation Center, Tech Data is showing resellers how VMware technologies can deliver cloud computing solutions for existing data centers, helping to dramatically increase efficiencies and business agility.”

The VMware Transformation Center is housed in Tech Data’s onsite Solutions Center, offering resellers the opportunity to demonstrate products and services from over 120 manufacturers and software publishers. Located in Tech Data’s corporate headquarters in Clearwater, Fla., the Solutions Center features a 6,000 square-foot proof-of-concept IT solutions lab with over $5 million in IT products. Hosting over 300 visitors each month, the Solutions Center also offers technology seminars, hands-on training, and classroom instruction.

VMware product demonstrations currently available in Tech Data’s Solutions Center include VMware vSphere and VMware vCenter™ Server, VMware View™, Trend Micro Deep Security and VMware vShield™ Endpoint, Cisco Nexus 1000v Distributed Switch, VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager™, VMware vCenter CapacityIQ™, VMware vCloud® Director, VMware vCenter Chargeback™ and VMware Zimbra®. Demonstration of the EMC VNXe series, an ideal fit for small- to medium-sized businesses, is also available through the Solutions Center. The EMC VNXe series serves as the virtual storage platform for VMware vSphere 5 and integrates with VMware vCenter Server.

Pano Logic Sets Up Shop In India

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Pano Logic, provider of zero client desktop virtualization solutions, has announced its formal expansion into the Indian market, distributing through Pano Logic Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.

The latter will appoint resellers in all the states of India and will provide sales and technical training for its partners. Opening the Indian market places Pano Logic into 20 countries globally.

The Pano System’s solid-state device has no processor, no storage, no memory and no operating system. As a result, it completely eliminates endpoint management, enabling the benefits of centralized management with a cloud ready device. Zero client devices also consume 95 percent less power than PCs and are unable to store data locally, minimizing security risks.

To commemorate its expansion into India, Pano Logic recently sponsored the Devas Snake boat team in the Nehru Trophy Boat Race – which they won.