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DSA Research Group Releases OpenNebula (ONE) 1.0

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Recently, the dsa-research group announced that a Technology Preview (TP2) of the OpenNEbula (ONE) Virtual Infrastructure Engine had been made available. Now, a stable release (v1.0) of OpenNebula (ONE) is available for download, again under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0.

OpenNebula enables the dynamic allocation of virtual machines on a pool of physical resources, so extending the benefits of existing virtualization platforms from a single physical resource to a pool of resources, decoupling the server not only from the physical infrastructure but also from its physical location.

The last version supports Xen and KVM virtualization platforms to provide the following features and capabilities:

  • Centralized management, a single access point to manage a pool of VMs and physical resources.
  • Efficient resource management, including support to build any capacity provision policy and for advance reservation of capacity through the Haizea lease manager
  • Powerful API and CLI interfaces for monitoring and controlling VMs and physical resources
  • Easy 3rd party software integration to provide a complete solution for the deployment of flexible and efficient virtual infrastructures
  • Fault tolerant design, state is kept in a SQLite database.
  • Open and flexible architecture to add new infrastructure metrics and parameters or even to support new Hypervisors.
  • Support to access Amazon EC2 resources to supplement local resources with cloud resources to satisfy peak or fluctuating demands.
  • Ease of installation and administration on UNIX clusters
  • Open source software released under Apache license v2.0
  • As engine for the dynamic management of VMs, OpenNebula is being enhanced in the context of the RESERVOIR project (EU grant agreement 215605) to address the requirements of several business use cases.

More information is available here.

Virtualization Pretty Big Down Under

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Twice as many Australian businesses are using virtualization than the rest of the world, according to analysts, reports Techworld. Gartner says between 8 and 9 % of medium to enterprise businesses are virtualizing their x86 servers, while global uptake remains at about 4 to 5 %.

Gartner’s servers and storage VP Phil Sargeant added that the figures, derived from research into organizational IT maturity, show Australians are spearheading virtualization uptake.

According to Unisys, the figure is even higher, since the 8 to 9 % adoption includes only virtualized systems in production.

EMC Reports Strong Q2 Results, Might Spin Off VMware Anyway

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So VMware performed below expectations, but how did parent company EMC do the past quarter? Not too shabby, actually. In its Q2 Earnings conference call (see transcript here), the company outlined that it had performed well against the backdrop of a challenging economic environment, although its outlook for the future was less rosy.

In the second quarter, EMC had revenue growth of 18% (to $3.67 billion), a non-GAAP EPS growth of 20%. EMC’s second-quarter net income rose 13% to $377.5 million, or 18 cents per share, from $334.4 million, or 16 cents a share, a year earlier. EMC backed its January forecast of full-year profit of 78 cents per share, excluding items. It said 2008 revenue would exceed $15 billion, up from its previous outlook of $15 billion.

The results sent EMC shares up a few points, and they got a further boost when EMC opened the door to a VMware spinoff, per report by Reuters. EMC CEO Joe Tucci apparently stated in an interview with Reuters that a VMware spinoff is definitely possible, although it likely wouldn’t happen in 2008.

EMC Corporation

VMware

Forbes Interviews Paul Maritz

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Forbes interviewed newly appointed VMware CEO and Microsoft vet Paul Maritz after last night’s earnings call. To read the full interview, click here. This is the most interesting excerpt as far as we’re concerned:

Microsoft’s Hyper-V hypervisor, software that separates hardware from operating systems and applications inside computer servers, is virtually free. How do you plan to compete with that?

We don’t see the need to lower our price points. But that said, we created lower price SKUs for our customers.

Hyper V is really just one layer and it corresponds to our ESXi. Our customers no longer pay for that. What they pay us for is the software that sits on top of that. Microsoft is not there yet. They don’t have the virtual infrastructure suite that we have.

What strategies from Microsoft will you use at VMware?

When you reach the size that VMware’s reached, in order to capitalize on opportunities, you have to be able to operate on multiple fronts. Find elements [that have made VMware successful], reinforce them and fill in with other tactics and tools. Create the ability to have empowered teams that can execute on multiple fronts. They just need to take their game up to the next level. I spent five years at Intel before Microsoft. I’m well schooled in Andy Grove’s doctrine that only the paranoid survive.

Seanodes Raises $2.4 Million From OSEO

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Seanodes, developer of what they call “Shared Internal Storage solutions”, today announced it has received about $2.4 million in funding from OSEO, France’s national agency for industrial innovation, in the form of a no-interest loan to support ongoing technology development and company growth.

“This additional funding will help to reinforce our R&D team and investments enabling us to accelerate the porting of our solution on VMware and Microsoft’s platforms,” said Christophe Guittenit, CTO of Seanodes.

Exanodes, the Seanodes software platform, allows virtualized infrastructure applications to marry unused disk space found in many server and storage clusters with existing or additional dedicated storage hardware to provide a powerful shared storage pool. Exanodes abstracts the storage layer from the physical devices enabling users to select the hardware and connectivity options that best suit their environment, today and tomorrow.

Seanodes

Verari Systems Claims Blade-Based Solution Doubles VMware Efficiency

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Verari Systems, developer of data center consolidation platforms utilizing blade-based computing and storage solutions, today announced that the Verari Systems’ VB1257 VMware ESX 3.5 certified blade – gasp -delivers twice the number of VMware virtual machines per blade than similar competitive blade offerings while consuming 50% less power.

On a per VMware image basis, the company claims the VB1257 for the BladeRack 2 XL (BR2-XL) platform provides better total cost of ownership than any competing blade server products. VMware provides TAP program members with tools to develop products that are complementary to VMware virtualization software and help deliver high-value solutions to our joint customers.

Verari Systems’ capability to run twice the number of virtual machines per blade provides organizations with compelling benefits including less capital expense through the reduction in the number of servers and the associated ongoing operational and environmental costs such as power, cooling, floor space utilization and management.

The VMware virtualization power of the VB1257 for the BR2-XL means users can combine up to 16 physical machines on to just one blade server, twice as many as competitive blade offerings while requiring only half the power of their offerings – reducing capital expenditure and operational costs by more than 50%. By doubling the number of VMware virtual machines to 16 VMs per blade, the VB1257 solution results in a cost savings of over $40,000 per year in power operational expense and equates to cutting 56,000 kilowatt hours, or approximately 32 tons of CO2 emissions, every year.