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Release: Univa UniCloud 2.0

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Univa UD, a provider of software solutions for enabling dynamic IT environments, today announced UniCloud 2.0, a new release which includes unique capabilities for enabling private, public and hybrid cloud environments.

UniCloud 2.0 enables the formation of an elastic compute infrastructure or cloud environment that unifies provisioning, configuration and virtualization management with application configuration into a single RESTful web-services-based framework. By integrating this flexible, powerful framework with management of resources and policies, UniCloud 2.0 greatly simplifies the deployment and operation of both physical and virtual (i.e. ‘dual-mode’) compute infrastructures. As a result, users can maximize software license optimization, throughput and resource utilization.

The new release is groundbreaking in several respects:

  • First to simultaneously manage ‘dual-mode infrastructures’ that consist of both physical and virtual resource nodes, the most common use case in a cloud scenario
  • First to integrate provisioning, infrastructure configuration, application configuration, and physical and virtual resource management into a single, unified product

UniCloud 2.0 is the ideal cloud solution for a variety of real-world usage scenarios, such as high-throughput engineering organizations that are trying to optimize expensive software licenses or fair-share compute resources that require check-pointing. UniCloud is also a valuable product for small business HPC and ISV appliance manufacturers who need a cloud enablement component for their customers.

UniCloud 2.0 is the first cloud enablement product to operate and support simultaneous dual-mode infrastructure, instead of requiring users to choose between deploying physical or virtual compute nodes in a cloud environment. The built-in descriptive policy management ensures applications automatically use the best available mode by switching the hardware profile or live-migrating workload as required to achieve the service level objective. This means all workloads and users get the fastest possible throughput performance and the greatest possible utilization.

UniCloud 2.0 provides a single construct to manage complex infrastructures and workloads using service level objectives. Workload of any type is automatically managed through integration with powerful Sun Grid Engine software. Workload requiring expensive application licenses, or meeting other prescribed priorities, can be run immediately without having to restart current jobs – check-pointing and live-migration are fully supported, so all workload finishes within a predictable amount of time. Integrated policy management enables automation by harmonizing workload, resources and hardware profiles. Changing system behavior is as simple as publishing a policy – new actions instantly become available.

UniCloud 2.0 allows any typical cluster administrative functions to be supported in a cloud environment and also supports many capabilities that are not typical or possible with incumbent solutions such as basic check-pointing. UniCloud can dynamically add virtual or physical compute resources to the cluster infrastructure, automatically delivering real-time resource optimization based on available memory, licenses, power consumption, CPUs and even data locality. With UniCloud 2.0, users can place multiple applications safely on the same compute resource without worrying about swapping or application interference and can reduce power consumption significantly by shifting workload to less expensive data centers. “If you can think it, you can do it,” quips Tyreman.

Coverage of Top Cloud Use Cases

UniCloud 2.0 addresses these top use cases:

  • Cloud Clustering: Provision an entire cluster in a public cloud
  • Cloud Bursting: Add virtual compute nodes to internal clusters by provisioning nodes in a public cloud
  • Private Cloud Computing: Create an internal virtual cluster that uses policies to place jobs on the most appropriate infrastructure, live-migrate or checkpoint jobs, and add virtual compute nodes by cloudbursting

UniCloud 2.0 is available as a standalone product or in an Enterprise package. Both packages include Sun Grid Engine software; the Enterprise package also includes Oracle VM, Oracle Enterprise Linux and a version of Reliance, Univa’s proprietary infrastructure and application service governor.

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%.

Windows Azure Cloud Computing Service: Release Date And Pricing Details

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Microsoft has shared details on how much it will charge companies that want to use its Windows Azure cloud computing service – which will compete with the likes of Amazon WS and Force.com – when it is released in final form later this Fall. Redmond announced a couple of plans, including one that charges purely on consumption and another that offers discounted rates for those that agree to a 6-month commitment.

The cloud operating system isn’t launching in final form until Microsoft’s upcoming Professional Developer Conference (November 2009), but an executive apparently had informed CNET that the pricing announcement would be made at this week’s Worldwide Partner Conference, which is taking place in New Orleans.

Microsoft said it will charge 12 cents per hour for computing, 15 cents per gigabyte for storage and 10 cents per 10,000 storage transactions. For network bandwidth, the software maker is charging between 10 cents and 15 cents per gigabyte. The discount plan comes in two forms and offers a 15 percent to 30 percent discount off the consumption charges. It requires a six-month commitment, with overage charges billed at the regular rates. After six months, the pricing reverts to the standard Azure rates.

Microsoft also announced pricing for its SQL Azure database, charging $9.99 for the basic Web edition, including up to a 1GB relational database and $99.99 for the Business Edition, which includes up to a 10GB database.

The software maker said it would promise 99.95 percent reliability for its compute and connectivity and 99.9 percent for role instance and storage. Ultimately, though, Ray Ozzie has said that trust will play a big role in which company businesses are willing to choose to host their applications.

More on TechCrunch.

Red Hat Launches Cloud Provider Certification and Partner Program

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Red Hat today announced the Premier Cloud Provider Certification and Partner Program, designed to simplify and expand the adoption of cloud computing by enterprise customers. The program enables industry leaders in cloud computing to become certified to offer Red Hat technology solutions. Premier Cloud Provider Partners will collaborate with Red Hat on technical support, security updates, hardware certification, sales and marketing and business models. As part of the announcement today, cloud computing pioneer Amazon Web Services will extend its technology relationship with Red Hat to become the first Red Hat Premier Cloud Provider Partner.

The Red Hat Premier Cloud Provider Program has been established to address the increased interest in cloud computing from Red Hat customers, both in building virtualized internal infrastructure systems and extending their applications into the clouds. Red Hat customers seek the flexibility to transfer and use Red Hat subscriptions on premise and/or in cloud environments, with support and compatibility. Red Hat customers have also requested the ability to rent elastic computing by-the-hour with access to consistent, technical support, security updates and compatibility with existing IT resources. This program aims to provide more flexibility for Red Hat customers when developing and deploying their applications.

In addition to customers, Red Hat has witnessed growing ISV partner interest in providing cloud offerings based on their applications certified on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and/or JBoss Enterprise Middleware. As part of its new program, Red Hat will work with customers to identify secure, optimized and supported cloud providers, and will work with ISVs to help enable delivery of cloud offerings with an on-ramp program that spans technology, business and support models.

Building on the experience of delivering the first supported operating system and first supported middleware offering for Amazon Web Services, Red Hat is now growing its relationship by choosing Amazon Web Services as the first member of the Premier Cloud Provider Program.

3Tera To Debut AppStore, A Marketplace For Cloud Components

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3Tera has announced the introduction of the 3Tera AppStore, a marketplace for cloud components where enterprise users, software vendors and datacenter experts can exchange production-ready, scalable and highly available cloud components on a pay-per-use basis.

3Tera’s AppStore is a globally available portal offering enterprise-class, supported software stacks, packaged for use in public, private and hybrid AppLogic cloud deployments. The AppStore catalog spans all types of datacenter infrastructure elements and complete applications, from networking components (such as load balancers, firewalls, routers, traffic managers, content switches), server components (such as Web servers, directory servers, databases, application servers) and storage solutions, as well as application software stacks, management and monitoring tools.

Users of the 3Tera AppStore can find pre-configured, ready-to-use appliances to add to their 3Tera AppLogic catalogs provided by trusted software vendors. Many are free or offered on a trial basis, while others are offered on a pay-per-use basis. For ISVs, the AppStore provides a way to publish and distribute enterprise-class, production ready, cloud components and generate revenue every time users run them in public or private clouds powered by AppLogic. Datacenter architects and consultants can package and publish complete application infrastructures to the AppStore that are ready to run, complete with value-added capabilities such as clustered solutions, high-availability, disaster recovery, on-demand scalability or automated backups and security.

Initial AppStore partners include CohesiveFT, GlobalLogic, Layer 7 Technologies, SOASTA, Tap In Systems, and Zeus Technology.

3Tera is working with established infrastructure and software vendors to populate the AppStore catalog of available appliances. The Beta version of the 3Tera AppStore will go live in Q3 2009.

Crescendo Networks Announces New Virtualized ADC (vADC) Functionality For AppBeat DC

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Crescendo Networks has announced new cloud computing and virtualized ADC (vADC) functionality for its AppBeat DC application delivery controller. With flexible, on-demand vADC resources and SLA-based (service level agreement) application control capabilities, Web properties, as well as private and public cloud infrastructures, can manage datacenter resources according to business needs. It also ensures end-user application service levels, and conserves server and energy costs for ultimate resource efficiency. These features are available with the Maestro CN-7000 Platform series, also announced today.

AppBeat DC’s new datacenter and cloud computing capabilities include:

Virtual ADC (vADC) for business-driven resource usage

AppBeat DC now offers virtual ADC partitioning, allowing all ADC resources to be divided into multiple, business-oriented segments. This enables ADC resources to be tailored to specific business needs, such as different applications in the same data center or multiple customers, each with different traffic and service level requirements.

Elastic Resource Control

AppBeat DC’s Elastic Resource Control maintains application service levels with the least amount of server resources. The end result is an efficient data center that consumes up to 30 percent less energy without sacrificing performance.

The new functionality is available immediately.