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Novell

VMware, Cisco Join Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program

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Microsoft’s Server Virtualization Validation Program, which was first announced in November 2007, and launched last June with the patricipation of Citrix, Sun, Novell and Virtual Iron, signed up two notable new members.

Cisco has announced its membership and is already included on the SVVP website, and VMware signed up pretty late so they’re not on there yet (but Chris Wolf had already confirmed the news). Microsoft and VMware had been working diligently for several months on the completion of their support agreement and VMware’s inclusion in the SVVP, and this will evidently drive virtualization adoption even further the coming months and years.

The costs associated with joining the program include membership in TSAnet at Mission Critical level, so that the vendor and Microsoft can share support information, incremental costs, if any, to perform the validation tests, and a nominal expense (currently $250) to qualify each ‘configuration’ that is submitted for validation.

Microsoft

Industry Moves: Mark Pileski and Leandra Yanagawa to VMLogix, Jason Langone to IGI

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  • VMLogix, provider of virtual lab automation solutions, today announced that Mark Pileski and Leandra Yanagawa have joined the company as VP of marketing and VP of worldwide sales, respectively. Pileski was most recently director of corporate marketing for Novell, which he joined with the acquisition of PlateSpin. Yanagawa was VP of inside sales for the EMC Software Division prior to the move.
  • Infinite Group announced that IGI has promoted Jason Langone to the newly-created position of Director of Virtualization Services. Prior to joining IGI, Mr. Langone held senior technical positions with Charles E. Smith, Citrix Systems, Tyco Healthcare, Computershare and the U.S. Census Bureau.
VMLogix

Infinite Group

Nebulas Virtualise Appoints New CEO, Partners With VMware, PlateSpin and Vizioncore

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Nebulas Virtualise, a provider of virtualization solutions and part of the Nebulas Solutions Group, has appointed Mike Young to head the division and announced a series of new technology partnerships, including VMware, PlateSpin (Novell) and Vizioncore.

According to the company, Mike Young, who has been appointed to head Nebulas Virtualise, is a virtualization specialist with over 20 years’ experience in managing complex IT projects. He will lead the technical team and will be involved at all stages of client projects. Before joining the company, Young worked at System Group Integration (SGI) where he was responsible for implementing large scale VMware and Microsoft solutions.

The new partnerships with VMware, PlateSpin and Vizioncore are expected to ensure that the company can offer customers the latest virtualization solutions. Nebulas Virtualise will market a complete service from initial consultancy, cost and return on investment analysis, infrastructure planning and migration and management of virtualized environments. The financial details of the partnerships were not disclosed.

[Source: TradingMarkets]

Novell Upgrades PlateSpin PowerConvert To Version 7.0

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PlateSpin, since March 2008 a Novell company, today announced the launch of PlateSpin PowerConvert Version 7.0 with new backup and recovery features and expanded multi-platform support to help enterprises migrate and protect server workloads across heterogeneous physical and virtual IT environments.

PlateSpin

In addition to providing enhanced SUSE Linux Enterprise support, PlateSpin PowerConvert now provides broader support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, as well as support for critical 64-Bit Microsoft Windows Server-based workloads and Citrix XenServer environments. PowerConvert provides the flexibility to optimize data centers by decoupling server workloads from the underlying hardware and streaming them over the network between physical servers, blade infrastructures, virtual hosts and image archives.

“Since Novell’s acquisition of PlateSpin in March, the two organizations have worked closely to put in place a data center strategy and product roadmap to help customers achieve an agile enterprise in which business services can span physical and virtual environments,” said Stephen Pollack, chief executive officer of PlateSpin, a Novell company. “To build the next-generation data center infrastructure, organizations need enterprise-caliber multi-platform workload portability, robust and scalable workload protection and reliable policy-based orchestration, PlateSpin PowerConvert 7.0 is designed to help customers achieve this flexibility and maximize their investment in virtualization.”

These are the new PowerConvert 7.0 features, according to the press release:

  • Linux “Anywhere-to-Physical” Migrations – Powerful physical-to-physical (P2P) and virtual-to-physical (V2P) capabilities enable migration of Linux workloads across physical or virtual boundaries for 32-bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, giving customers the ability to accelerate data center initiatives including server consolidation, hardware lease migration and data center relocation.
  • Windows 64-Bit Support – Windows 64-Bit physical-to-virtual (P2V) migration for critical Windows Server 2003 workloads with support for various transfer methods, including Take Control, Live File Transfer and Snapshot for VMware ESX 3.x, 3.5 and Citrix XEN Enterprise 4.1, offers customers an effective migration option in a single solution.
  • Enhanced Citrix XenServer Support – Support for anywhere-to-virtual (X2V) and virtual-to-image (V2I) workload migrations for Citrix XenServer Enterprise 4.1 including 32-bit Windows XP, 2000, 2003 and 64-Bit Windows Server 2003 allows customers to accelerate and simplify integration and maximize their IT investment.
  • Incremental Imaging Capabilities – Flexible imaging support brings greater workload protection while enabling significant savings in terms of staffing time, bandwidth and storage costs. Superior image import and export capabilities and automation enable organizations to more easily create and manage an image-based repository of server workloads for backup and disaster recovery and reduce imaging costs.
  • Enterprise-class Speed and Reliability – Dramatically improved transfer speeds for workload migrations over a wide range of network types from Gigabit Ethernet networks to high-latency WAN environments — all with reliable enterprise-class workload migration functionality including Server Sync(TM), job automation and post-migration testing capabilities that minimize downtime while maximizing the integrity of the workload migration. PowerConvert’s enterprise-caliber reliability reduces overall migration project times, lowers business risk and accelerates time to value for large- scale data center initiatives.

[Source: PR Newswire]

Microsoft Officially Launches Server Virtualization Validation Program

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Microsoft‘s Server Virtualization Validation Program, which was first announced in November 2007, has become operational yesterday, with the patricipation of Citrix, Sun, Novell and Virtual Iron.

The Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) is open to any vendor who delivers a virtualization machine solution that hosts Windows Server 2008, Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and subsequent service packs. The virtualization solution can either be hypervisor-based or a hosted solution.

The costs associated with joining the program include membership in TSAnet at Mission Critical level, so that the vendor and Microsoft can share support information, incremental costs, if any, to perform the validation tests, and a nominal expense (currently $250) to qualify each ‘configuration’ that is submitted for validation.

PlateSpin Reaffirms Commitment For Extended Citrix XenServer Support

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PlateSpin, since recently a Novell company, today reaffirmed its commitment to support Citrix XenServer across the PlateSpin product line. PlateSpin considers XenServer support to be a key element of its multiplatform strategy, which aims to offer enterprises a unified suite of solutions for managing heterogeneous data center environments and making physical and virtual infrastructures work as one.

Platespin

“As a Citrix Technology Partner, PlateSpin is committed to working with Citrix to offer customers simple, efficient and interoperable solutions to virtualize servers and better manage their XenServer environments,” said Stephen Pollack, CEO of PlateSpin ULC. “PlateSpin Workload Portability and profiling technology helps Citrix customers make the most of their XenServer investments by accelerating and simplifying the integration of XenServer into their mixed data center environments where multiple hypervisor technologies coexist.”

With broad support for today’s distributed, multi-platform environments, PlateSpin PowerRecon provides an enterprise-scale workload profiling, planning and optimization solution that improves the speed and quality of virtualization initiatives and eases the burden of managing virtual environments.

[Source: VMblog]