R&D

David Marshall’s Sneak Peek at Symantec VIBES

May 26, 2009 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Symantec‘s R&D engineers are working on a new virtual machine technology that is focused on protecting users from online attacks while surfing the Web. It works under the concept of setting up multiple virtual machines on a user’s physical machine. And then, it enables a user to perform operations of different security levels and different scenario based transactions in each of the different virtual machines. The so-called VIBES prototype puts a new spin on things to significantly improve browser security.

David Marshall got a sneak peek of VIBES at Symantec’s R&D labs, and you can read the rest of his report here.

PHD Technologes “Acq-hires” Xtravirt Co-founder Alex Mittell

September 16, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

PHD Technologies (previous coverage), provider of the esXPRESS data protection solution for virtualized infrastructures, today announced the acquisition of UK-based Xtravirt’s suite of virtualization products. As part of the transaction, Xtravirt co-founder, Alex Mittell, will join PHD Technologies as Director of Research & Development. Xtravirt will continue to partner with PHD Technologies as a distributor of esXPRESS to existing and new Xtravirt customers in the UK.

The virtualization tools acquired by PHD Technologies’ will benefit managers of virtualization infrastructures. These include VI3 SnapHunter, a virtual machine snapshot reporter; VI3 PatchDownloader, an automated downloader of VMware ESX patches; VISBU, an infrastructure backup utility and KS Quick Config, a tool to speed up the deployment and configuration of VMware ESX 3 servers.

Alex Mittell is widely known as a technical expert and thought leader in the virtualization community. Prior to co-founding Xtravirt, he worked at Oxford University in the UK as a virtual architect, setting up the university’s virtual infrastructure. Mittell will continue to be based in London.

Dell and VMware Looking For Sustainable Growth in South Asia

March 25, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

South Asia is a booming market, and with the US seemingly tumbling into a deep, long-term recession, it’s no surprise to see a lot of companies aiming for growth in both market share & revenue in the Far East.

VMware is investing $ 100 million by 2010 to expand its Bangalore, India-based research and development (R&D) operations, as announced today by VMware president and CEO Diane Greene at a news conference in Bangalore. VMware already has a strong presence across India with offices in Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Delhi, and Mumbai.

VMware plans a brand new, state-of-the-art 82,000 square foot development center in Bangalore (including a 4,000 square foot computer lab) and aims to double its India-based engineering organization to more than 1,000 people in the next two years.

Meanwhile, Dell is also readying itself for a decline in sales from the US, historically its most prolific revenue base. Since its Chinese consumer sales last year were up 54 %, three times the industry average, Dell plants to cultivate this new audience and feed the retail stores. Dell India plans to launch low-cost desktop and notebook computers that are customized for India in the second week of April.

“Today we are a $700 million business in India,” Dell India Vice President and General Manager Rajan Anandan said at a news conference. He added the company will soon announce plans to establish retail operations in the country. In India, Dell follows its traditional model of selling computers over the Internet or by telephone. “At present, we are not into retail operations in India, but that’s going to change,” Mr. Anandan said.

Dell has two factories in China and a design center in Shanghai and it’s planning on increasing the amount of components it buys in China by 27 % this year to $ 23 billion. The company is also reportedly planning on increasing the number of laptop models it produces by 50 %.