Research and Markets

Research and Markets’ Latest Report: “Vendor Landscape: Virtualization Competition Heats Up”

January 19, 2009 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Via VMBlog comes word of a new report from Research and Markets titled: “Vendor Landscape: Virtualization Competition Heats Up”:

“VMware retains its leadership position in this updated vendor landscape of virtualization software. However, the virtualization market has seen greatly increased competition in 2008. Microsoft has emerged as a legitimate competitor through its release of the Hyper-V hypervisor and Citrix has stormed onto the scene with its acquisition of XenSource.

This research note provides an overview of the x86 server virtualization landscape and addresses how the vendors meet the following key selection criteria:

-Vendor and product maturity.
-Advanced features and suitability for a utility infrastructure.
-Cost of licensing.

VMware remains in the leadership zone due to its market share and continued innovation toward comprehensive data center virtualization. However, where VMware was the only game in town a few short years ago, now the competition has become serious. Going into 2009, expect continued feature innovation and pressure on pricing. ”

Research and Markets Releases “All About Implementing Virtualization” Report

November 16, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “All About Implementing Virtualization” report to their offering.

Featuring:

Assessing Candidate Servers for Virtualization

This assessment tool provides a high-level view of the current infrastructure in the context of technical, business, and operational readiness. Use this tool to decide which servers are ideal candidates for virtualization as well as which servers should await further planning and development.

All About Implementing Virtualization goes a step further by pairing the assessment tool with tactical and practical research notes so you know what to do next and how to do it.

Also Included:

— Five Pitfalls of Virtualization and How to Avoid Them – The road to server virtualization and consolidation is not without its potholes. Examined are five common virtualization implementation challenges and how they can be mitigated. Very few virtualization challenges are purely technical, but rather stem from shortfalls in planning. Do not take an ad hoc approach to virtualization. Avoid the pitfalls by focusing on application provisioning and capacity planning.

— Virtual Servers Planning Goals: Take a Baby Bear Approach – In a typical scenario, a modest 100-server shop will not be moved to server virtualization by a strategic imperative. Rather, the trigger will be the acquisition of partitionable x86 servers as part of a regular hardware refresh. Planning can make the difference between this implementation being a one-off effort with limited return on investment or the beginning of a new way of managing infrastructure that has significant cost and service benefits.

— Virtualization Scope Analysis Worksheet (Tool) – The most often cited challenges to virtualization are related to people and processes, not technology. Take some time to think about all the people and processes that would be impacted by virtualization. Use this downloadable worksheet to identify goals, dependencies, opportunities, and potential barriers to virtual machine adoption.

— Virtualization Project Definition Template (Tool) – Info-Tech sees the best approach to large scale virtual server implementation as one that combines planning for a foundational virtual infrastructure with careful and incremental adoption. Having employed the ITA Premium “Virtualization Scope Analysis” worksheet to consider who and what will be impacted by virtualization, use this template to develop a long-term project definition for virtualization.

— Business and Operational Assessment for Virtual Server Implementation – Business and operational assessments are as critical for virtual server implementation as is the technical assessment that identifies virtualization candidates. People and process issues are more likely to be an impediment to implementation than technical limitations. Identify and resolve these issues through assessments that establish baselines business and operational measures for virtualization success.

— Technical Assessment of Candidates for Virtual Server Implementation – Technical assessment of current server infrastructure is one of three critical assessments necessary for an effective virtual server implementation. The other important assessments are a business assessment and an IT operational assessment. The important results of the technical assessment will be a list of virtualization candidate servers, and baseline utilization data for capacity planning of the virtual machine infrastructure.

— Just Do It: Server Virtualization without Planning? – The best approach to virtual server implementation combines planning for a foundational virtual infrastructure with careful, incremental adoption. While planning is critical, don’t let external involvement bog down or stall initial implementation efforts. Use a business and operational assessment to define the trigger point for the larger planning effort.

Research and Markets Releases New Report on Virtualization Security

October 7, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Virtualization Security: The Early Stages of a New Battleground” report to their offering. Here’s the run-down they’ve provided via press release:

With the rush to adopt virtual technologies, the security of virtualization has become a primary concern – yet few understand the security implications of this disruptive innovation. In this report, EMA provides guidance for IT practitioners seeking to secure their virtual environments. With a simple, five-phase approach to virtualization security as the centerpiece of this study, EMA takes an initial look at virtualization threats and vulnerabilities, and considers the security benefits of virtualization. Market insight from EMA’s 2008 virtualization survey of over 600 enterprises takes a sampling of the steps organizations are – and are not – taking today to secure virtual environments. Until virtualized security measures mature, this report focuses on what enterprises can do today to secure virtualization and seize the unique opportunity to integrate security early in the adoption of this game-changing technology – before it’s too late.

The rapid adoption of virtualization technology has created multiple benefits for IT organizations. Advantages such as the reduction of cost through more efficient resource utilization are obvious; however, these benefits can quickly be negated if virtualization opens a door to a major security incident.
Many researchers have argued about the security implications of a migration towards IT virtualization. Some say that virtual solutions increase the risks faced by an organization, others argue that there is no impact at all, while still others argue that the implementation of virtualization allows organizations to actually reduce risk. The reality is that virtualization can do all of these, depending on the way it is designed, implemented and used. It is therefore imperative that IT managers have a high-level understanding of the security issues that can affect their virtual environments, and of the approaches that can address those issues. Through this understanding, enterprises can ensure that the delicate balance between functionality and security results in the greatest business benefit with the fewest risks. Moreover, executives can assure that their organizations take advantage of the opportunity that virtualization offers to put security at the forefront and thus avoid future security issues and costs.

In this report, an initial look at the emerging challenge of securing virtualization, as well the security benefits of this disruptive technology. The reader will be presented with an introductory view of threats and vulnerabilities affecting virtual environments, as well as recommendations for pursuing a simple five-phase process that can be tailored to any environment in order to implement virtual solutions in a secure manner. Through infrastructure consolidation strategy and design, administrative process management, network strategy and design in extending the layered security model, configuration management, and risk assessment, this five-phase approach addresses specific virtualization security risks in order to strengthen both the security and operational benefits virtualization offers the business.