New ways to save on virtualization
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It's worth checking out open-source alternatives and virtualization that's built into processors and operating systems, analysts advise.
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Enhanced midrange storage array, network hardware released.
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3.0 already? Better toss the 2.0 rubbish Virtualization has become somewhat of a Wild West for the data center market, promising streets paved with gold for IT groups - and endless riches for the vendors hawking this new-age server slicing technology.â¦
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Host based virtualization gives users the most flexibility; virtualization on the storage array is trickier; and network-based virtualization, while offering the most benefits, is difficult to implement and the stickiest once installed.
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(Source: Network Appliance)  This technical report discusses the virtual storage solutions that reduce cost, increase storage utilization, increase fault tolerance, and address the challenges of backing up and restoring VMware ESX Server environments by using NetApp technologies.
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(Source: Borland) Don't let distributed development, SOA and shifting methodologies sabotage software quality...or turn your QA teams into IT managers!  Virtualization can provide a better alternative to physical testing.  Learn how to get more out of virtualized testing by integrating it within testing processes.
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InfoWorld - Server virtualization has, without doubt, taken the IT industry by storm. It provides a cost-effective way to dramatically reduce downtime, increase flexibility, and use hardware much more efficiently.
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(Source: Lefthand Networks)  This white paper details the true cost of storage and server sprawl, proven approaches to virtualizing servers and storage, and how to maximize ROI using virtual machines on iSCSI SANs.
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Server virtualization software is gaining more and more users. But many are finding that there's a shortage of IT workers with virtualization skills, forcing them to adopt self-teaching strategies.
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(InfoWorld) - Virtual Iron and XenSource both are introducing new virtualization software to undercut on price the dominant player in the field, VMware. On Monday, Virtual Iron is set to start offering Version 3.1 of its enterprise-class virtualization platform for a license price of $499 per socket, which is less than 20 percent of the $2,875 per socket price for a comparable VMware license, according to Virtual Iron. Virtual Iron argues that VMware's pricing is a barrier to more widespread adoption of virtualization in data centers, citing IDC research that only 6 percent of data center operators deploy any type of virtualization. Also Monday, XenSource introduced new and upgraded virtualization products, also at sub-$1,000 prices. Both XenSource and Virtual Iron build their proprietary products on top of the open-source Xen platform for virtualization hypervisors. A hypervisor is technology that makes it possible for one computer to run multiple operating systems at the same time. VMware's products are not based on open source. Virtualization refers to software and other system management tools that are used to better utilize servers. Virtualization makes it possible for one physical server to run multiple applications simultaneously. Advanced virtualization features include tools to seamlessly move computing workloads from one physical server to another, set up infrastructure and test new software. Revenue at VMware, a wholly owned subsidiary of storage vendor EMC, grew 86 percent in EMC's fiscal third quarter to $188.5 million. If that pace keeps up, VMware's annualized revenue would be $750 million, VMware said. Virtual Iron and XenSource intend to slow that pace. "We are taking a very aggressive stand on pricing," said Mike Grandinetti, chief marketing officer for Virtual Iron. The Charlotte Observer newspaper in North Carolina uses Virtual Iron. It took 45 minutes to run a particular job on its legacy Unix-based servers, said Geoff Shorter, the Observer's IT infrastructure manager. VMware completed the same job in 11 to 13 minutes, but so did the less expensive Virtual Iron. The license for the high-end VMware product costs $5,750 to run on a dual-socket server, Shorter said. Virtual Iron's license is $499 per socket, so the total cost for a dual-socket machine license would be $998. Pricing for XenSource's XenEnterprise starts at for $488 for an annual subscription license for a dual-socket server or $750 for a perpetual license. XenServer for Windows, introduced Monday, sells for $99 per dual-socket server, per year. It has fewer features than XenEnterprise. "Our intention is to dramatically shift the landscape under VMware," said Simon Crosby, XenSource's chief technology officer. Virtualization is following a classic economic model of an early mover dominating a market and charging a premium, soon followed by challengers competing on price, said Gordon Haff, principal IT advisor at Illuminata Inc., a technology research company. Haff said enterprises that have deployed VMware are seeing a positive return on their investment despite the price and he doesn't think price alone is keeping enterprises from adopting virtualization. "Even if virtualization software were free, it wouldn't become ubiquitous because of the complexity of the implementation," he said.
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Blog: Virtualization services are expected to turn into a $11.7 billion market by 2011, more than double its current level, according to an IDC report. VMware and its competitors are helping to drive this demand.
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If large businesses use tools such as Microsoft's Solution Accelerator Business Desktop Deployment package (assuming it's easier to use than it is to say), the administrative "best practices" those tools will help them adopt could save them somewhat more per PC than what they spent for the license, according to a Gartner study advanced by a Microsoft product manager who spoke with BetaNews.
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Virtualization is best seen as a long-term process, and forget about those vaunted cost savings because they don't usually materialize, Enterprise Management Associates says.
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Server virtualization may be enterprise computing's latest technology, but a recent survey of corporate IT buyers shows that near-term adoption may not match the hype.
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Virtualization on the Mac is a fairly new phenomenon, and getting here took some doing. Columnist Richard Hoffman explains.
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TechWeb - Among the new features is support for IBM's Virtualization Engine, a slice-and-dice technology that splits processors into as many as 10 virtual CPUs.
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It's real versatile, man Had you 'Rip van Winkled' your way through the first half of this decade, you could have fallen asleep thinking virtualisation was merely a means of slicing-up large servers. However you would have awoken to discover it is in fact one of the most versatile tools in IT.â¦