Avastu Blog: Sustainable Global Clouds

We have raised the bar of analysis by doing it on a day to day basis. Suddenly with this agile, liquid and rather volatile economy, a report that is 6-weeks late is really not useful to the industry, especially if you look at IT and the "current state of IT". I raised this question in LinkedIn and have re-opened the question. Here's this blogger talking about Gartner and what they really do: There are themes at Gartner and its competitors -- ideas that are presented on an almost seasonal basis like adding fins to change a 1956 Chrysler New Yorker into a 1957 Chrysler New Yorker. Two such themes that are popular with such consultants right now are offshoring/outsourcing and getting rid of legacy applications to gain agility, whatever that is. I've written columns and columns about offshoring and outsourcing and the success of both policies is decidedly mixed, unless perhaps you are outsourcing down the street and offshoring Lake Michigan. Outsourcing, while a very ...

EDS has been charged with "streamlining and enhancing" people's use of government online services, including log-on access to the Australian Taxation Office, Medicare and Centrelink, as well as links to jobs, business opportunities, health, travel and other departmental resources. Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said people were frustrated by the need to visit multiple websites to get the information and services they need, "and have repeatedly requested simple access. Surveys have shown the present arrangements are too rigid, too hard to find, and often use complex language that's hard to understand". Over four years, EDS will develop online accounts for individuals, allowing a central log-on and interaction with a range of agencies, as a one stop shop. But Australians will not be compelled to use the online account as services offered through the site will be "strictly opt-in", Mr Tanner said in a statement. News here...

Eindhoven, The Netherlands, May 26, 2008; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: TCS.BO, NSE: TCS.NS), a leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing firm today announced a five year contract to deliver end-to-end global IT applications services to NXP Semiconductors B.V, a top 10 semiconductor company founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. The contract is worth $100 million and TCS will provide high end consulting services as well as application management, development and support services across NXP’s supply chain operations. Through this engagement, TCS will consolidate and ensure the integrity of NXP’s complex application landscape, delivering considerable operational cost savings and enabling the Eindhoven-based manufacturer to focus on its core business activities. TCS’ research and development teams will also develop innovative and specialist applications to deliver competitive advantage to NXP across all stages of the product cycle. The deal will be implemented t...

So what's new: VDM 2.1 includes the following improvements and new features Pools spanning datastores in order to better manage resources Localization of VDM Web Access and Client for Windows in Japanese and German Command line parameters for VDM Client Integrate MMR multimedia extensions DLL with VDM Client (Windows XP) Allow end users to change password Multiple sessions per user within a pool Improvements to logging Allow end users to restart their VM Defined process for bulk import of individual desktops VDM Configuration Backup (command-line only) Allow blocking of incoming RDP connections that are not from VDM Clients Allow VDM administrators to set default desktop (command line only) See it all here

At some point of time, we will see several vendors going in for some acquisition. Mergers and Acquisition is taking place at all levels. "The Great Sucking In" will continue for quite a while until the market has settled a bit. When we're done with the virtualization market, my buddies in the Cloud/Grid/Teleputing are already kicking dirt and getting ready for the show. I personally see StackSafe as a major player that not only is selling a great product in its Test Center, an upcoming 2nd June release or upgrade of the Test Center will tell you more about it, but also since the amount of research that these guys put in. Anyways watch out for StackSafe 's upcoming release on 2nd June!

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 28, 2008 — VMware, Inc., (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire B-hive Networks, Inc., a privately-held application performance management software company with headquarters in San Mateo, California and principal R&D facilities in Herzliya, Israel. With this acquisition, VMware will leverage the B-hive team and technology to offer proactive performance management and service level reporting for applications running within VMware virtual machines - on both servers and desktops. In addition, B-hive’s R&D facility and team will form the core of VMware’s new development center in Israel. The terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2008, subject to customary closing conditions, were not disclosed. “As customers increasingly standardize on the VMware platform to run their business-cri...

LOS GATOS, Calif., May 28, 2008 – Hifn™ (NASDAQ: HIFN), the catalyst behind storage and networking innovation, today announced that it has signed Xdata Corporation as the latest addition to its roster of resellers for the award-winning Swarm™ secure iSCSI appliance product line. Xdata, based in Greenwood Village, CO, is a storage solution specialist with a core competency in business continuance. Using proven methodologies and best practices developed from real life experience, the company designs and implements custom solutions for data storage, backup and recovery, data replication, storage management, SANs, NAS, iSCSI, IP SANs, compliance, and disaster recovery. By signing on to Hifn’s Channel 100 Partner Program for the company’s Swarm products, Xdata Corp. gains access to a broad range of reseller resources, such as training webinars, lead generation, product spiffs, joint customer visits with Hifn storage experts, discounted demo units, public relations and telemarketing support...

I am pretty certain that the licensing and pricing complexity will choke this market. Virtualization, no matter how hard you and I would like to believe, is still pretty nascent in the "minds of the traditional IT guys". We all have them around us and we are part of that equation as well. This article on Microsoft's licensing on virtualization is one of the examples of such frustration. "If you are getting any benefit from Microsoft's software, you need to have a license, whether that benefit is for physical machines or virtual machines," Voce said in a session titled "Microsoft Licensing in a Virtual World." "You cannot engineer your way around licensing requirements. You can't use the technology as a way to cut corners around licensing." Some customers are trying to cut corners, though. A recent Burton Group report said customers of numerous software vendors deal with support limitations by "accidentally" failing to disc...

Hmm, not a really promising figure that. So it is safe to assume that the desktop virtualization is a hype and will/can eventually cost you more dollars than the current setup. Think about it: The chips are getting energy efficient and fast, the disks are getting cooler and cheaper. And to play the devil's advocate here, then you have a consultant who's blowing hose in your ears telling you that your desktop is really better off being hosted on some distant, remote, out-sourced server? (Do bear with me as I am exaggerating here) But that "conservative figure" of $1.8Bn is not really excitable, far from it. I've heard numbers , back in 2007, to be in the range of $ 1.5 Bn as well.

“Every vendor in the virtual machine space is claiming the cost savings by going virtual. This has been proven to a large degree on the server but less so on the PC. When servers are virtualized, they literally and physically go away because they run on another server. Cost savings are immediate,” said Jason Smith, vice president of business development for ScriptStart. ” When a desktop is virtualized, most of the time, there is still hardware and software infrastructure needed to run the VM. In reality, this just adds another software layer to mange for most organizations that are looking to implement VDI or XenDesktop on top of existing infrastructure. Therefore, cost-savings and ROI for desktop VMs require a different look.” Can I get you some desktop management software for that desktop management solution? ScriptStart is a Dunwoody, Georgia-based ISV whose Profile Unity solution gives customers a central, portable profile to use at any Windows desktops, whether virtual, thin ...

Excerpt: n this paper we present a new architecture for building intrusion detection systems that provides good visibility into the state of the monitored host, while still providing strong isolation for the IDS, thus lending significant resistance to both evasion and attack. Our approach leverages virtual machine monitor (VMM) technology. This mechanism allows us to pull our IDS “outside” of the host it is monitoring, into a completely different hardware protection domain, providing a high-confidence barrier between the IDS and an attacker’s malicious code. We achieve this through the use of a virtual machine monitor. Using this approach allows us to isolate the IDS from the monitored host but still retain excellent visibility into the host’s state. The VMM also offers us the unique ability to completely mediate interactions between the host software and the underlying hardware. We present a detailed study of our architecture, including Livewire, a prototype implementation. We d...

Jan Stafford, yep one of those funny video ladies from VMworld 2007, asked Chris about it. And he thinks that the pricing may come down. I'm jotting it down under "opinions" as we all have heard that: - VMware has to bring down the prices - People have been saying it for some time I don't know if its really blogworthy, but anyways here's the link

Not a report based on any studies, many prefer to choose VMware when it comes to server virtualization. When asked which server virtualization software will be their strategic platform over the next five years, 35 or so audience members raised their hands for VMware, about 15 for Xen, and only five for Microsoft. Unscientific to be sure, but the debate and vote pointed out a few important issues in the virtualization war: Customers like VMware products but are frustrated with high cost and product support; Microsoft is late to the game, not yet having released the widely anticipated Hyper-V software; and Xen, while not as popular as VMware, offers a creditable alternative at lower cost. More here...

I spoke to Kenji, the CEO some days back and we will publish his interview soon! SEATTLE, WA — May 20, 2008 — Xenocode, a next-generation virtualization company, today launched its flagship offering, Xenocode Virtual Application Studio. Xenocode is a next-generation application virtualization technology that allows Windows, .NET, and Java-based desktop applications to be deployed in standalone executables that run instantly and reliably, anywhere. Xenocode virtualization technology frees organizations from lengthy application setup and configuration, eliminates software conflicts and incompatibilities, and enables instant deployment via portable USB devices, intranets, the Internet, or existing desktop management infrastructure. "Application virtualization is the next wave of virtualization technology, with compelling performance, flexibility and economic advantages over traditional hardware virtualization," Kenji Obata, Xenocode founder and chief executive of...

Absolutely! Here's more from ZDnet! Early, pre-release views are ecstatic . You have VPN support, QOS functionality, even traffic-shaping. Download it here . Like many open source companies Vyatta has both community and subscription versions. VC4, in fact, is short for Vyatta Community. This is not just important to Vyatta, but to the market it seeks to serve. Even if phone companies subscribe to open source code, they still want to keep their proprietary tweaks. Most won’t go anywhere near a product with out a sales contract. Vyatta lets them do this. The reality of the carrier market is that today it consists almost entirely of incumbents. Fortunately there remains an immense and growing corporate market, Intranets running telecomm services and Web 2.0 companies offer that market. This is Vyatta’s sweet spot. Whether it can really build a community is less important than whether it can build a sales channel. If it can, Cisco will face its first real market threat in a deca...

See it all here and they mentioned also how they got those high figures: Tuning for Performance You might be wondering what parameters we tuned to obtain this kind of performance. The answer will surprise most: we tuned only three parameters to obtain 100,000+ IOPS. We increased the VMFS3 max heap size from 16MB to 64MB (KB article # 1004424). We changed the storage processor’s cache high/low watermark from 80/60 to 40/20. This was done to write the dirty pages in storage cache more often so that Iometer write operations do not wait for free memory buffers. We increased the guest queue length to 100 to make sure that the guest was capable of queuing all the I/O accesses generated by Iometer to the test disks. Don't go on benchmarking your production, or wait!... actually do it and post your results!

David Blackman, partner director for VMware A/NZ, said Australia is on a fast-track to virtualisation, with VMware posting triple-digit growth year-over-year in the country during the first quarter of 2008. “This agreement makes it even easier for companies in Australia and New Zealand to gain the efficiency and productivity benefits of a virtual data centre,” he said. According to Blackman, as part of the agreement the Fujitsu support group will provide 24/7 VMware support services out of its operations in North Ryde, Sydney. This complements the existing levels of hardware support services that are run from the same location. Link

Well I love the talk but Cloud Computing is leaving your confort zone of the Siloed Clouds (Server Virtualization, carve up stuff and host big fat apps on big fat OSs on a hypervisor) and going into a crowded Cloud market where apps float across the planet and have no business to do with OS or any hypervisor. I occasionally watch those cloud discussions and we are seeing discussions like the SOAs, WSDL kind of talk we heard a few years back. This means that the market and space is massively crowded. Many virtualization buffs took off from the early S-belly train and placed their bets in the clouds. The bigger giants like IBM, Microsoft, Google and also smaller but agile guys like Rackspace etc are buying data centers across the world or should I say, renting space across the planet. The problem with the cloud computing market is that its crowded! Anyways Bridget reporting here: “The dream of cloud computing is fast becoming reality,” she said. With cloud computing, workloads are assign...

Seattle, WA - May 20, 2008- Web2Storage Corp., a software development and marketing company focused on making network storage as simple as directly attached disk drives, today announced general availability of its Web2Drive software for storage devices, enabling Windows Vista users secure, remote, and seemingly local access to their data at home or from anywhere with Internet access. Web2Drive software resides on a disk drive partition, where it utilizes Microsoft Vista Rally technology and advanced chip controllers to give users a one-click install of a network storage device. A user simply purchases a Web2Drive-enabled device from a retailer, plugs it into their router or wireless router via an Ethernet cable, and with one click the device appears as a local drive letter on their computer, just as a USB device would. The user then has secure remote access to their data from anywhere in the world that has an Internet connection, without carrying the storage device with them. When comb...

AUSTIN, Texas, May 20th, 2008 – Caringo Inc., a leading provider of content storage software that delivers clustered storage infrastructure for active and archive content, today announced that its CAStor™ software was selected by CMWare as the primary storage solution behind the company’s skyTuneZ service, a hosted service that allows users to store, access and share their personal media files from the web and their mobile phones. Available through a number of distribution channels and directly to consumers, skyTuneZ allows customers to upload and access rich media files including music, photos and video from anywhere, at any time. The service needs to provide reliable and continuously available access to stored files that can easily and affordably scale as demand dictates. CMWare chose CAStor based on its proven capability to meet these requirements. The CAStor storage cluster, with its native HTTP interface is ideally suited for Internet service offerings and Web 2.0 companies tha...

AUSTIN, Texas—May 19, 2008 —Surgient, the leading provider of virtual lab management software used to automate and manage the dynamic data center, today announced the appointment of Craig Parks to vice president of marketing. Parks will be responsible for building on Surgient’s long-term leadership position in the virtualization market and for expanding the company’s market footprint. He and his growing marketing team will also drive product marketing, corporate communications and channel program strategies. “Surgient’s growth is matching the exponential pace of the broader virtualization market due to the rapid adoption of our heterogeneous and scalable enterprise solutions,” said Tim Lucas, president and CEO of Surgient. “Craig’s diverse background and leadership comes at a time when we are experiencing dramatic customer traction by enterprise IT organizations within the Global 2000. We are pleased to have Craig join our team to help drive our ongoing growth.” Parks brings more than ...

Well given the pace the virtualization industry is exploding, looking jus ta few weeks back seems like ages ago. Anyways we missed out on Citrix Synergy as I wasn't able to travel for personal reasons. Anyways here's our intro with Nicholas, our good friend, who covered VMworld for us in France, 2008. Good news for others to note is that VMworld 2009 Europe will also be in Cannes (So I hear) Also, VMworld Asia is coming, so stay tuned!

HOUSTON » 5/20/2008 » Today at Citrix Synergy™, the event where virtualization, networking and application delivery meet, Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) announced the immediate availability of Citrix XenDesktop™, the most highly anticipated new product line in company history (see earlier product announcement). The company also revealed previously unannounced details about the complete XenDesktop product line, including the release of a new Express Edition offering free desktop virtualization for up to 10 users, and new Enterprise and Platinum Editions which tightly integrate the industry’s most proven application virtualization via the new XenApp for Virtual Desktops feature. All editions of XenDesktop are optimized to work with the new Citrix Desktop Receiver client to create an unparalleled end user experience (see related announcement today) as well as a wide range of certified Citrix Ready™ hardware and software solutions, creating the industry’s most comprehensive solution fo...

Computer Lab International (CLI), a twenty-year veteran in thin client computing, today announced support for Citrix XenDesktop™ -- a desktop virtualization solution. Each of CLI's desktop appliance platforms will support XenDesktop including CLI XP Embedded, Windows CE Embedded and Linux Embedded desktop appliances Placentia, CA (PRWEB) May 20, 2008 -- Computer Lab International (CLI), a twenty-year veteran in thin client computing, today announced support for Citrix XenDesktop™ -- a desktop virtualization solution. Each of CLI's desktop appliance platforms will support XenDesktop including CLI XP Embedded, Windows CE Embedded and Linux Embedded desktop appliances. This tight integration with XenDesktop allows organizations to offer the best user experience combined with the unprecedented reliability and manageability of CLI desktop appliances. Computer Lab International is a member of the Citrix Ready™ initiative which is designed to highlight the best 3rd party products in C...

GEL thin clients 54% more eco-friendly than PCs across the product lifecycle Experts forecast the EU could slash global warming CO2 gas emissions by more than 5.3m tonnes over the next five years by switching from PCs to thin clients Reading, UK - May 20, 2008 - New research into the environmental impact of thin clients and PCs today revealed that IGEL Technology thin clients were 54% more eco-friendly than PCs. And if the 8.2m business PCs forecast to be sold in the European Union in 2008 were replaced with thin clients, global warming CO2 emissions would be cut by 5.3m tonnes over the next five years. The research, undertaken by the renowned Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, compared the environmental impact of a PC and thin clients from IGEL technology taking into account each lifecycle phase from production, through usage and finally recycling. The research builds upon analysis last year that looked at the ecological costs of simply running thin clients and PCs. The latest study dem...

Thin Client Leader's Full Product Line Transforms into Citrix XenDesktop-Tuned Appliances with the Click of a Button Reading, UK: May 20th 2008- IGEL Technology, the world's third largest thin client vendor, today announced that it will demonstrate one of the first prototypes of a Citrix XenDesktop(tm)-tuned Appliance in a stylized form factor at Citrix Synergy(tm), May 20-23, 2008 in Houston, TX. A Citrix partner for more than ten years, IGEL is also outfitting its entire product line with IGEL's One-Click-XenDesktop Appliance Feature, which means the company will offer the world's largest range of appliances that support Citrix XenDesktop with 22 models. At Synergy, Citrix will release its Citrix Ready(tm) desktop appliance specification with the aim of defining a new class of devices specifically designed to deliver a full desktop experience when connecting to Citrix XenDesktop in a VDI environment. These devices are geared towards those customer scenarios which rep...

Check out the blogs here : Couple of vids with guys preparing stuff...

Their Announcement: We're pleased to announce a new Ulteo product called " Ulteo Virtual Desktop " (Beta) which allows you to use Linux applications on the Windows(TM) operating system. Ulteo Virtual Desktop is a full Ulteo system that runs seamlessly on Windows and offers a large choice of Linux applications, including the Firefox web browser, Thunderbird email client, OpenOffice.org office suite, multi-IM software such as Kopete and many others. It also offers all Ulteo features that are already available with the Ulteo Application System . This includes automatic system and application updates from the Internet and document synchronization accross all your user's Ulteo systems. It's been designed for individuals and corporate users who want to have Linux and Windows applications together on the same desktop without the hassles of dual booting or virtualization. Once installed, the Ulteo Virtual Desktop offers a special menu that can be used to launch...

No, I am down with Migraine and will be coming up with loads of my own M&A series which will not only do analysis on the possible mergers and acquisitions but also why some mergers and acquisitions may be fatal to some companies. I have already mentioned it before that they will all fall under my "Funnel Strategy and Puddle Convergence" M&A framework. Rich Tehrani has some pointers and we all know that when Cisco and Intel were laying their bets early in the investment game of VMware, they had a "strategic intent". And we may all try to deny the fact but its purely a battle of getting fully equipped with all ammo in your data center. When I spoke to the Intel team, who were on its own consolidation spree and bringing down 130 data centers to 8 international hubs, I knew that they were onto the "Estuary-Funnel" Global Delivery Model. An approach which will not only help Intel (or any other firm that seeks the Global stage) spread its risk but also ...

All the three news are here , here and here .

The message from HP is that it wants to deliver more efficiently used assets. "Everything has to be saved now," says Phil Dodsworth, director of HP Datacentre Solutions. That means energy efficiency, power and cooling and lowering operating costs, he adds. "Our strategy is all about managing risk for our clients, and we manage risks through these processes. It's not a silver bullet." HP sees virtualisation as an important strand in what it wants to deliver - but that is a long way from the full story. "Every other supplier seems to imagine that virtualisation is a cure all for everything," says Dodsworth, "but some applications don't lend themselves to virtualisation at all." HP's strategy is very much cost-driven rather than technology-led. "That's what our customers have been telling us," says Dodsworth. "It's the cost of the datacentre that is crippling companies, not the strategic advantages that technolo...

igorous testing verified that both implementations will support XenServer 4.1 virtual machines with virtual storage and advanced storage services critical to demanding virtual server environments, such as fail-safe data protection, high availability mirroring, disaster recovery replication, SANmotion data migration, thin provisioning storage pools and high speed caching for performance acceleration. The momentum continues to build for DataCore virtual SAN solutions delivered in combination with Citrix XenServer environments. Recent customers include Citrix, Sherron Associates, Inc., Digital Control, Integra Pacific Mortgage, Weishardt Group, Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, DocuLegal and Douglas County. “Now more than ever, storage virtualisation is being adopted hand-in-hand with server, desktop and application delivery virtualisation,” said George Teixeira, president and CEO DataCore Software. “Our storage virtualisation software, which can be implemented as a virtual...

"We deployed VI in January and migrated 12 of our servers onto the platform. In the past four months, each node has locked up once, taking the virtualized servers on it down, as well, with no automatic move to a different node - VI is still trying to figure out what happened.. Aside from that, I have been very pleased, and certainly appreciate the much lower price tag." I followed up with Tanya and asked if the lockups resulted in any lost data. Here's what she said: "No, we didn't lose anything except uptime. As soon as I identified that a node was down, I was able to migrate the VMs to a different node and bring them right up. I haven't lost any data; I think my issues are actually with the Virtual Manager, but that is by no means an expert opinion." Link

Xsigo takes an interesting approach in addressing the I/O concerns. The solution is to virtualize server I/O. That is, turn normally fixed and static I/O channels, host bus adapters, and network interface cards into more dynamic resources whose capacity can expand and contract based on virtual server needs. If I/O virtualization could be achieved, it would resolve a persistent problem server administrators have as they stack virtualized applications on the same hardware. Until virtualized I/O becomes commonplace, applications with heavy or fluctuating I/O demands aren't being virtualized, lest they end up causing I/O backups. Two early solutions have emerged and more are sure to follow. Startup Xsigo off-loads I/O traffic to an attached appliance that virtualizes it (see diagram, p. 20). The approach requires replacing standard HBAs and NICs on the server with Xsigo custom cards and investing in the Xsigo appliance. Pricing starts at $30,000. Xsigo's appliance can generate up t...

Wil je meer weten over Citrix Virtualisatie? Dan vergeet niet om aan te melden. De programma ziet er als volgt uit: 8.30 welcome 9.00 - 10.15 : What’s up about Xen? - Welcome & Opening by Ed Bezooijen or Werner van Unen: What is Citrix aiming for with the incorporation of Xensource? Is Citrix in fact ‘the oldest virtualization company’? Outlook on Citrix’strategic direction with Xensource 10 minutes - Sander van Vugt: Why Xen is the real thing for real men and the other solutions more like toys for boys. Do you need to be a CLP to be able to work with Xen? 20 minutes - Simon Crosby: Why the merger with Citrix makes sense from a technological point of view. What are the technical advantages for the IT Manager / system administrator in working with Xen? 45 minutes 10.15 – 10.45 Coffee break & Fresh Air 10.45 - 12.00 How Xen will conquer & virtualize the world – Simon Crosby An in-depth technical overview about Xen & how things work differently than on other platforms like...

I did a quick call with the StackSafe folks and we'll be announcing exciting stuff soon, so stay tuned! Here's StackSafe for now!

This is something that will change the ball game forever. HP's EDS acquisition has changed the dynamics of the HW-SW-SI equation or atleast, it will definitely change the global sourcing model and possibly in their favor. Same is to happen with this (meaning rumored Intel's name on the VMware acquisition) equation, although this covers a (SW-SI)-HW* domain. So obviously this will trigger a reaction with firms like Cisco or IBM to go for Citrix and other bigger and smaller acquisitions. Although here again I still feel the Cisco could only cover the HW-SW domain where as IBM could complete the equation with the HW-SW-SI venn unless they go for Accenture or CSC and complete the HW-SW-SI equation. *: VMware does the SW with a slight reluctance on SI side where they still battle with the current SI and partners on "should we let you implement or we do it ourselves, cos we can always do it better than you". EMC Corp. gained the most since October in New York trading and op...

I spoke to Nick a few days back and we spoke a lot about the "S-Belly Innovation Trap" and the process around it. Here are the details: Nick's profile from Pano Management page : Nick Gault - President & Chief Executive Officer A serial entrepreneur and experienced leader of enterprise technology companies, Nick is president and CEO of Pano Logic. Prior to Pano, he was founder and CEO of XenSource, a leading developer of virtualization software, recently acquired by Citrix Systems. Prior to XenSource, Nick was founder and CEO of Network Physics. He has also served as the former VP of corporate development at Hummingbird Communications (HUMC). He was founder and VP of engineering of venture-backed Common Ground Software, where he was co-creator of the original portable document format technology. Nick holds B.Sc in Engineering from Stanford University and an M.Sc in Engineering; Client-Server Computing. Summary of our chat: Hi Nick, please tell us a bit about yourse...

It's bad news for VMware, which is still counting to a disturbing degree on its hypervisor to keep it ahead of competitors like Microsoft and, increasingly, every other operating system or server-manufacturer out there. "We have never believed that the hypervisor would be commoditized," VMware director of marketing Ben Matheson told Computerworld's Rob Mitchell recently. "To imply that it's a commodity would imply that there's no differentiation." Bingo. Right now there is some differentiation, and will continue to be for another year or so, until Microsoft's Hyper-V really gets its legs. After that, Microsoft's Hyper-V will be a credible choice for IT managers counting on not being fired for buying technology from an industry leader, whether it works best or not. For others, who make choices based more on technical merit than intangibles like market leadership, third-party support or the quality of the golf outings vendor reps take them on, ...

The VMware IT Service Delivery Bundle includes all the products necessary to automate the entire lifecycle of IT services, from initial request to final retirement: VMware Lifecycle Manager and either VMware Lab Manager or VMware Stage Manager. These products use virtualization to provide a more cost effective and powerful way to manage the entire software lifecycle. In particular, they enable end user self-provisioning of virtual machines, give IT departments complete control of virtual machine environments and provide the application owners with application release management. The new bundle will significantly enhance the productivity of and empower application developers, testers, and IT administrators by helping to: manage virtual machine sprawl; quickly and conveniently build and deploy new environments; and deploy new services with minimal risk through the constancy of the development, test, staging, and deployment environments and the ability to specify and automate the rules ar...

This is the news: Hewlett-Packard will become the second-largest technology services company after IBM with a deal announced Tuesday to buy Electronic Data Systems for $13.9 billion. With revenue of $22.1 billion last fiscal year, EDS of Plano, Texas, gives HP instant scale and a seat at the big table for large contracts. HP's own services unit brought in $16.6 billion last fiscal year. Together, the two companies will have about 210,000 employees with reach in 80 countries and will be a firm challenger to IBM. HP's purchase price values EDS stock at $25 per share, a 32.6 percent premium over EDS' closing price of $18.85 on Friday, before news of the merger talks. HP said the agreement has the full backing of both companies' boards and is expected to close by the end of the year. According to HP, the purchase price includes $13.25 billion paid on 529.9 million units of outstanding common shares, options and restricted stock, as well as $640 million adjusted for the ...