virtualization

iWave Software Debuts Automator, Will It Please IT Administrators?

June 24, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

iWave Software, a 15-year old maker of IT integration software, today announced its entry into the IT process automation market with the introduction of iWave Automator.

iWave Automator is a platform designed to automate data center support processes (run book automation) and to integrate IT system management (ITSM) applications. iWave Automator aims to enable IT organizations to automate, standardize and enforce best practices, lowering their operating costs and improving application availability, while maintaining compliance in their virtualized and physical data centers.

iWave Automator says it provides IT administrators with two options for automating their virtual or physical data center environments. Administrators can use iWave’s graphical process design environment to create automations specific to their organization’s unique business needs or implement iWave Accelerators, pre-built IT automation workflows that automotive specific tasks using ITIL compliant processes.

The platform consists of the following components:

iWave Adapters: iWave offers over 40 pre-built adapters for IT service management (ITSM) applications. iWave Adapters support all of the popular ITSM applications that span the ITIL Service Support disciplines including service desks, event, problem, change, configuration and release management.
iWave Accelerators: iWave Accelerators are pre-built workflows that administrators can download and import into their iWave Automator environments. iWave Accelerators help administrators automate common IT management tasks including virtual server management, configuration and compliance management.
iWave Designer: A graphical user interface that provides administrators the tools required to create IT process automation workflows and integrations quickly and easily.
iWave Management Console: A Web-based console that provides administrators the ability to monitor the health of the iWave Automator environment as well as their ITSM workflows and integrations.

Parallels + Quest = VDI Solution Bundle

June 24, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Quest Software and Parallels today announced a major deal by jointly launching a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) bundle that offers enterprises a centralized Windows desktop deployment and management platform.

The combination of Parallels Virtuozzo Containers server virtualization and Quest’s Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite (VAS) desktop brokering and management solution aims to simplify desktop and image management, improve security, address regulatory compliance and offer the most cost-efficient approach to terminal services.

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers enables users to run multiple workloads as isolated, simultaneously executing virtual environments. Since it is installed on top of the operating system (OS), the containers use the resources of the underlying host OS, rather than needing their own.

“By delivering up to three times the number of virtual desktops on each physical server, Parallels Virtuozzo Containers makes VDI a truly cost effective solution,” said Paul Ghostine, VP and General Manager of Quest Software’s Provision Networks division. “We see this partnership as an opportunity to further extend our leadership in the VDI space by giving customers a variety of platform choices for their desktop virtualization needs.”

The solution is priced $140 per concurrent desktop connection and it’s available now through sales channels of both companies.

Novell Upgrades PlateSpin PowerConvert To Version 7.0

June 24, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

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.

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]

SIMtone Takes Carrier-Grade Virtualization Services International

June 24, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

SIMtone Corporation today announced the launch of SIMtone International, the company’s newly established international headquarters in Switzerland. SIMtone International is already working with a number of International Telecom and Cable Service Providers to deliver all types of carrier-grade virtual computing services for the enterprise, SMB and consumer markets.

“The widespread availability and accessibility of very high quality wireless and wireline broadband services throughout Europe is now enabling Network Operators to commercially deliver a broad range of value-added services such as virtual PCs,” explained Mario Dal Canto, SIMtone Corporation’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. “SIMtone makes virtualization simple, and enables carriers to develop, deploy and deliver new services inexpensively, securely and seamlessly to any connected device on-demand and on-the-fly. We enable a game-changing opportunity for Network Operators to decommoditize their pipes, reduce churn, optimize network utilization, lower costs and increase ARPU with services people need rather than just want. SIMtone is the perfect complement to wireless and wireline broadband connectivity services, and allows telecom, cable and wireless operators to deliver converged mobile services simply and safely everywhere.”

Earlier this year, SIMtone unveiled its virtualization platform and a virtual cloud computer, the SIMtone Virtual PC, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The SIMtone Virtual PC is the first computer-in-the-cloud that delivers a full laptop-like user experience, including high performance screen/sound and full USB functionality, on any Internet connected device, on-demand and on-the-fly.

The telecom market in Europe is progressive and committed to delivering a range of virtual services, such as Virtual PCs bundled with broadband Internet access. According to IDC’s Quarterly Server Tracker, virtualization was a driving force as the EMEA server market reached $4.4 billion in revenues in 1Q08, up 4.8 percent over 1Q07.

SIMtone International already has more than 10 employees in Europe. The company has a technology development center in Ireland and a representative office in Spain and is in the process of establishing its European operation support center on the shores of Lake Leman in Switzerland.

Radiant Logic Releases RadiantOne Virtual Directory Server (VDS) 5.0

June 24, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Radiant Logic, provider of virtual directory solutions, today announced the rollout of its latest release, RadiantOne Virtual Directory Server (VDS) 5.0. This “wizard-driven” solution aims to simplify the deployment of identity integration for Web Single Sign-On and Federation.

As the newest component of the RadiantOne Identity and Context Virtualization Platform, RadiantOne VDS 5.0 is designed to analyze the steps of identity integration, divide those steps into different tasks and provide tools to solve each task. The result is a wizard-based virtual directory focused on use cases and practical deployments, rather than just tools.

RadiantOne VDS 5.0 turns the complex process of identity integration into a simple, use case driven, point and click operation.

“We are providing our customers with a field tested solution based on virtualization that is not only easy to deploy and risk free, but also the most complete on the market,” said Michel Prompt, CEO of Radiant Logic.

RadiantOne VDS 5.0 features a three-step wizard, designed to connect all backend sources to the virtual directory within minutes. Customers can quickly aggregate and/or integrate identity data from any data source and extend it with additional attributes for authorization. The Virtual Directory Server then leverages this identity information by making it appear as one common virtual LDAP v3 compliant directory that is fully compatible with SUN/RedHat/Netscape directories.

Thz new release also includes a specific set of scenario/wizard driven templates for the deployment of CA SiteMinder, Web SSO, EMC/RSA ClearTrust and IBM TAM.

[Source: PR Inside]

VMware Debuts VAssert, A New Workstation API

June 24, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

VMware just blogged about VAssert (programming guide – PDF), a new API debuting in Workstation 6.5 (beta) that uses the Record and Replay functionality they’ve been talking about for some time now. VAssert (Virtual Assertions) is a relative of your standing programming ASSERT debugging tool, but by delaying assert-checking until later when the exact machine instructions are replayed, it can be “very fast”.

VMware engineers Weiming Zeng and Min Xu demonstrate VAssert within Apache here.