upgrade

Parallels Launches Updated Version Of Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac

January 6, 2009 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Parallels today announced the general availability of an updated version of Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac (Build 3810), its market-leading desktop virtualization software for running Windows and more than 50 other operating systems on a Mac. Since its launch in November, more than 300,000 copies of Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac have been downloaded. All registered users of this version qualify for the free update, which will be available online and via the product’s AutoUpdater feature. The update results from Parallels’ commitment to constantly enhancing this premium solution to meet the growing demands and requirements of its 1.5 million users.

The Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac update includes new features and enhancements to offer users the easiest, fastest and most powerful way to run Windows on a Mac.

The new update is available free to all registered Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac users. The standard retail price (SRP) of Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac is $79.99 for new users and $49.99 for upgraders. New users can test a free, fully-functional copy for 15 days. Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac is available in English and localized versions including Chinese, Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Polish and Russian. Please check with a Parallels representative for local availability.

Xsigo Upgrades VP780 I/O Director

September 8, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Xsigo Systems (previous coverage), provider of data center I/O virtualization solutions, today announced the availability of an enhanced version of the company’s VP780 I/O Director. The enhanced product, called the VP780 x2, is designed to set new performance and ease-of-use standards for data center customers using virtual I/O technologies.

The new VP780 x2 offers all the benefits of its predecessor — greater data center agility, up to 50% less capital cost, and 70% fewer cables — now with a 100% increase in server connectivity speed. The VP780 x2 delivers 20Gbs of bandwidth to each server, making it the world’s fastest converged I/O fabric. The product also offers industry-first features that allow users to quickly monitor and manage their I/O topology with a single view that extends from the virtual machines to the physical switch ports.

The enhanced data center I/O management capabilities of the VP780 x2 include a single-screen view of virtual machines, virtual switches and I/O topologies. This view enables end-to-end visualization of resources extending from the virtual machine to a physical switch port. Enhanced performance monitoring now includes traffic statistics accessible through third party tools.

The faster server connection speed delivers greater throughput and increased VMotion performance for faster deployment of virtual resources.

Also new in the VP780 x2 are enhanced SAN and iSCSI boot capabilities that allow users to boot any server from any Fibre Channel or iSCSI LUN for fast re-purposing of server resources. Customers can now adapt to dynamic workloads, deploy resources on demand, and boost utilization by rapidly changing both a server’s I/O personality and its application workload, all within the Xsigo virtual I/O environment.
Xsigo is the only vendor to combine virtual I/O technology, a unified fabric, and a hardware-based platform to deliver data center-wide scalability and a single point of management for all I/O resources.

Xsigo launched its first virtual I/O product in September of 2007 specifically to address the I/O complexity and performance bottlenecks found in today’s data centers. Xsigo consolidates the I/O infrastructure and replaces physical network and storage interfaces (NICs and HBAs) with virtual resources that are remotely manageable from a single console. The Xsigo solution works with today’s existing infrastructure, and incorporates a modular design that is easily adapted to accommodate new networks, servers, and interconnect standards.

The beta version of the VP780 x2 is available immediately and sold directly through Xsigo Systems, Inc. and its qualified resellers.

Xsigo Systems

StackSafe Test Center Gets Another Upgrade, Enhances Support for Virtualized Environments

August 5, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

StackSafe, a provider of pre-production staging and testing solutions for IT operations teams, announced today that StackSafe Test Center, which was launched in the beginning of this year and significantly upgraded 2 months ago, now includes automated import of virtual infrastructure components.

Users can easily import virtualized production environments into Test Center, enabling them to stage both virtualized and physical production environments for testing activities. With this upgrade, Test Center provides testing that covers the gamut of potential scenarios, from physical infrastructure stacks to virtual infrastructure stacks to “hybrid” environments that include both physical and virtual components.

With the uses of virtualization becoming more widespread, the IT Operations industry is beginning to see an increasing use of virtual infrastructure stacks in production. Enhanced support for virtualized infrastructure enables users to more easily import virtual workloads into Test Center, making it possible to test against virtual and physical environments for complete end-to-end infrastructure stack testing. This inclusion, along with the product’s existing support for external infrastructure connectivity, gives Test Center a broad view of the entire IT Operations infrastructure, enabling testing across:

Physical machines – Production machines equipped with Windows, Red Hat Linux and CentOS Linux
Virtual machines – Test Center currently supports virtual machines on VMware ESX 3.x
External infrastructure components – Including large databases, mainframes and other network components that cannot be virtualized into Test Center

Organizations choosing to employ StackSafe Test Center can now ensure that their entire software stack is represented in the testing process, enabling for faster change impact analyses and fewer rolled-back changes.

As part of StackSafe Test Center’s subscription licensing model, the updated release of Test Center is generally available to current Test Center users at no charge.

Vizioncore Updates vRanger and vCharter Pro

July 17, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

Vizioncore has released an upgrade to its backup and restore solution for virtualization environments, vRanger Pro 3.2.4. With vRanger Pro, administrators can schedule regular image-level backups of virtual or physical machines – while the machine is still running. Images can be stored either locally in the SAN or sent as compressed files over a WAN to remote locations to support disaster recovery strategies. vRanger Pro also enables restore of individual files efficiently with an explorer tree through which users can easily identify and “grab” needed files.

vRanger Pro 3.2.4 is a minor update to the core 3.2 functionality. There are two key components of this release: VCB Differential Backups and Support for FIPS encryption. Also included in this release are several bug fixes.

In addition, Vizioncore has released a minor dot release to its enterprise-level virtualization monitoring solution, vCharter Pro 3.0.1. Key improvements include support for external Oracle databases (versions 9i or 10g) and a significant number of bug fixes. The 3.0.1 version of vCharter Pro now also supports installation on the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003.