The InformationWeek -- Blogs
InformationWeek's Virtualization Weblog

Virtualization For Disaster Recovery - SunGard Gets It


By Howard Marks | 06:51 PM ET, May 11, 2008

It should be clear to most of us by now that server virtualization changes the disaster recovery game dramatically. Rather than having to maintain a server at your DR site for each server in your production environment, you can replicate physical, and/or virtual, servers from your production site to virtual servers at your DR site, reducing the cost of protecting production systems or increasing the number of servers you can protect.

Continue reading "Virtualization For Disaster Recovery - SunGard Gets It..."

Comment on this blog entry


Shameless Self-Promotion


By Joe Hernick | 10:39 PM ET, May 9, 2008

Astute readers may have noticed many of my recent blog posts have touched on VM management. I've been doing research for InformationWeek Reports, investigating the state of vendor offerings, real-world experiences, and new solutions to handle VM sprawl.

Continue reading "Shameless Self-Promotion..."

Comment on this blog entry


Flu Strikes JavaOne Attendees, Health Department Says


By Charles Babcock | 01:29 PM ET, May 9, 2008

A flu virus was picked up by at least a few attendees to the JavaOne Conference at the Moscone Center, the San Francisco Health Department has warned. It didn't say how many of the 15,000 attendees were affected, but as I read this in the San Francisco Chronicle, I'm feeling poorly [look at his pallor] myself.

Continue reading "Flu Strikes JavaOne Attendees, Health Department Says..."

Comments(2)


Students Sound Off About Java


By Michael Singer | 03:13 PM ET, May 8, 2008

What do future generations think about the state of Java and its relevance to their research? The answer may surprise you, and Sun.

Continue reading "Students Sound Off About Java..."

Comments(2)


xVM 1.6 - Lean, Free, Runs On Everything


By Joe Hernick | 11:45 PM ET, May 7, 2008

Want to try out desktop virtualization? Take a look at Sun's latest open source VirtualBox -- I bet it has a binary with your name on it.

Continue reading "xVM 1.6 - Lean, Free, Runs On Everything..."

Comment on this blog entry


Making The Most Of Limited Space, Time, And Money


By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee | 12:31 PM ET, May 7, 2008

Ken Abendshien is CIO of Midwest Health Systems Data Center, a tech support organization that provides outsourced data center services to 27 small county hospitals and long-term care facilities in Kansas, and two in Nebraska. Some of those sites are really tiny -- treating one or two patients a day. And with those hospitals having even tinier IT budgets, Abendshien needs to stretch his resources very carefully.

Continue reading "Making The Most Of Limited Space, Time, And Money..."

Comment on this blog entry


Citrix Rethinks Data Center


By Joe Hernick | 11:17 PM ET, Apr 30, 2008

Citrix has remade themselves as a virtualization vendor. Now they want to remake your data center as a 'delivery center.'

Continue reading "Citrix Rethinks Data Center..."

Comment on this blog entry


System Center To Play Nice With Others


By Joe Hernick | 11:39 PM ET, Apr 29, 2008

This is good news for multihypervisor shops. Microsoft pushed out the beta of Virtual Machine Manager today, which includes management support of VMware.

Continue reading "System Center To Play Nice With Others..."

Comment on this blog entry


Hello, Would You Like A New Job?


By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee | 02:39 PM ET, Apr 29, 2008

When was the last time you got a call from a headhunter? Have those calls cooled down lately? Think it's due to the weak economy, or do you think it's possible that you're just not that "hot" anymore?

Continue reading "Hello, Would You Like A New Job?..."

Comments(6)


VCharter Pro Offers Insight


By Joe Hernick | 11:05 PM ET, Apr 28, 2008

Vizioncore announced availability today of vCharter Pro as an enterprise-class performance monitoring and management solution for ESX shops.

Continue reading "VCharter Pro Offers Insight..."

Comment on this blog entry


Other Voices


By Joe Hernick | 11:16 PM ET, Apr 22, 2008

As much as I want you all reading my stuff, there are a many other folks writing some great content and analysis on the VM front. Here are some of the writers I try to keep up with.

Continue reading "Other Voices..."

Comment on this blog entry


Little Silver Boxes On The WAN


By Joe Hernick | 09:25 AM ET, Apr 14, 2008

Pano Logic's virtual desktop solution (VDS) is getting a major rev update to v2.0, picking up WAN, wireless, and improved USB support for its tiny, shiny VDI client.

Continue reading "Little Silver Boxes On The WAN..."

Comments(1)


Symantec Buying AppStream


By Joe Hernick | 02:03 PM ET, Apr 9, 2008

The biggest news out of ManageFusion so far? Symantec bought AppStream last night and is rolling 'em into the newly formed "Endpoint Virtualization" group.

Continue reading "Symantec Buying AppStream..."

Comment on this blog entry


Lifecycle Manager, Part II


By Joe Hernick | 11:11 AM ET, Apr 8, 2008

Here's a follow-up with VMware on the company's new Lifecycle Manager add-on for ESX.

Continue reading "Lifecycle Manager, Part II..."

Comment on this blog entry


Heading To ManageFusion


By Joe Hernick | 09:50 AM ET, Apr 7, 2008

Happy Monday -- I'm catching a plane out to the Altiris ManageFusion conference in Vegas.

Continue reading "Heading To ManageFusion..."

Comments(2)


VM Sprawl?


By Joe Hernick | 10:41 PM ET, Apr 2, 2008

We all know how it starts. You said, 'sure, just this once.' Someone said, 'psst, buddy, try this out.'

Continue reading "VM Sprawl?..."

Comment on this blog entry


Cradle To Grave, Baby


By Joe Hernick | 08:46 AM ET, Mar 31, 2008

Virtual Center can support 200 hosts and 2,000 VMs. VMware's new Lifecycle Manager offers hope to automate and track those thousands of containers.

Continue reading "Cradle To Grave, Baby..."

Comment on this blog entry


Cinci Bell Goes Thin With Sun


By Joe Hernick | 11:30 PM ET, Mar 29, 2008

I wrote on Sun's VDI upgrade earlier this month. Charlie Babcock interviewed Jeff Harvey from Cincinnati Bell on his company's VDI deployment for our 3/31 issue.

Continue reading "Cinci Bell Goes Thin With Sun..."

Comment on this blog entry


Beyond Consolidation


By Joe Hernick | 11:01 PM ET, Mar 26, 2008

Should we call this stage two of adoption for virtualization? Am I jumping too soon with my "1x1 makes sense" pitch?

Continue reading "Beyond Consolidation..."

Comments(2)


Squeezing Costs Out Of IT


By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee | 03:21 PM ET, Mar 26, 2008

If your company is looking for ways to squeeze more out of IT these days (and who isn't), server virtualization is one of the moves some organizations are making to find savings. Just ask Kent Kushar, CIO at wine maker E&J Gallo.

Continue reading "Squeezing Costs Out Of IT ..."

Comments(1)


VMware To Double R&D Presence In India


By Joe Hernick | 08:53 AM ET, Mar 24, 2008

VMware's Bangalore engineering office is set to grow to 1,000+ in two years. Add in 200 or so other sales and support employees, 160 channel partners, university partnerships, and many customers across India to see the big picture.

Continue reading "VMware To Double R&D Presence In India..."

Comments(7)


Small Post, Tiny Footprint


By Joe Hernick | 08:12 PM ET, Mar 22, 2008

Ubuntu's JeOS (say 'juice' if you must) weighs in at 151 MB. Want to roll your own VMware miniappliance? JeOS is a pretty good place to start.

Continue reading "Small Post, Tiny Footprint..."

Comments(1)


Rethink The Business Case?


By Joe Hernick | 10:45 PM ET, Mar 20, 2008

Every P2V business case is about cost savings, right? You know the pitch; consolidation will set you (and your budget) free. PR firms are even touting virtualization as the saving grace for budget woes in the coming Dark Age, er, recession. What if I told you that IT pros up and down the food chain are looking at VM'ing to resolve server-build hassles and a list of other operational woes? What if I said those same folks are expecting costs to be neutral, or higher for P2V, but their business case is still good...

Continue reading "Rethink The Business Case?..."

Comments(2)


Does Desktop Virtualization Need Desktop SOA?


By Andy Dornan | 03:36 AM ET, Mar 19, 2008

Part of the rationale for Web services has always been that they can tunnel through firewalls, linking networks that are otherwise securely separated. Virtualization puts up similar barriers between applications within a single machine, so will crossing them require similar technology?

Continue reading "Does Desktop Virtualization Need Desktop SOA?..."

Comments(2)


Intel's Next Top Model?


By Joe Hernick | 11:00 PM ET, Mar 18, 2008

Who else wants Mike's job? He gets to hang out at Intel predicting the future of computing.

Continue reading "Intel's Next Top Model?..."

Comments(1)


Sun VDI 2.0 Offers Anywhere, Anyhow Desktops


By Joe Hernick | 09:02 PM ET, Mar 17, 2008

Sun's rapid move to v2.0 brings a new Virtual Desktop Connector hoping to serve as a "universal translator" for many-to-any desktop delivery.

Continue reading "Sun VDI 2.0 Offers Anywhere, Anyhow Desktops..."

Comment on this blog entry


Kidaro, Microsoft, And ... Struggling To Define Desktop Virtualization


By Joe Hernick | 12:24 PM ET, Mar 14, 2008

I spoke with Kidaro CEO Kevin Brown for about 90 seconds yesterday afternoon; the conversation was cut short due to an emergency conflict on my end. Kevin and I hope to reconnect via phone next week while he is in Israel. I suspect he and his will be a bit busy for the foreseeable future, what with that recent Microsoft acquisition...

Continue reading "Kidaro, Microsoft, And ... Struggling To Define Desktop Virtualization..."

Comments(3)


Liquid Computing Wants To Virtualize Everything


By Joe Hernick | 12:04 PM ET, Mar 12, 2008

I've been digging into I/O virtualization lately and ended up speaking with some folks who want to virtualize everything. Everything. Data I/O. Network. Entire physical servers. Liquid Computing is hoping to be the next major disruption in the force.

Continue reading "Liquid Computing Wants To Virtualize Everything..."

Comments(7)


8 Gb FC, Qlogic, HP, And VM I/O


By Joe Hernick | 11:05 AM ET, Mar 10, 2008

I've spent the better part of the last week reconfiguring gear in the virtualization test lab, getting reacquainted with machine specs and idiosyncrasies. We have a variety of servers connected to a Dell, nee EqualLogic, iSCSI SAN. Half of our HP servers and one Xserve also have 2 Gb Fibre Channel HBAs, unused since we lost our FC SAN. Remember when those 2 Gb FC connections seemed zippy? 4 Gb HBAs have been on the market for a couple years, and a number of recent 8 Gb FC solutions are being touted as a remedy for I/O constraints in virtualized environments.

Continue reading "8 Gb FC, Qlogic, HP, And VM I/O..."

Comments(1)


Novell On Virtualization


By Joe Hernick | 11:07 PM ET, Mar 8, 2008

Novell's Richard Whitehead and I sat down to a lively discussion on the trials and tribulations of VM management. Whitehead was good enough to remind me of Novell's open source chops on SUSE and Xen...

Continue reading "Novell On Virtualization..."

Comment on this blog entry


Intel's VMDq On ESX = Broad Market Goodness


By Joe Hernick | 07:58 AM ET, Mar 6, 2008

I missed Intel's 10GbE and IOV news. Read on for why you shouldn't make the same mistake.

Continue reading "Intel's VMDq On ESX = Broad Market Goodness..."

Comments(1)


Does Cisco's Switch To Linux Make IOS More Open?


By Andy Dornan | 01:05 AM ET, Mar 5, 2008

When Cisco and Juniper first said they were opening their router OSes, I thought that they'd be about as open as the iPhone. With Cisco's launch of IOS XE, I realize I was wrong: The iPhone is much more open.

Continue reading "Does Cisco's Switch To Linux Make IOS More Open?..."

Comments(9)


Apple Not-So-Genius


By Joe Hernick | 07:14 PM ET, Mar 4, 2008

Overheard in an Apple Store today: "Parallels ... made by VMware; Boot Camp, like, way better for running Windows."

Continue reading "Apple Not-So-Genius..."

Comments(12)


October In London?


By Joe Hernick | 10:44 AM ET, Mar 4, 2008

So you liked trekking to Cannes for VMworld? Pony up for autumn in the U.K. to attend the vendor-independent "Virtualization Congress."

Continue reading "October In London?..."

Comment on this blog entry


VMworld Wrap


By Joe Hernick | 11:53 PM ET, Feb 29, 2008

VMworld Europe offered a bunch o' news. I/O is big. IOV is getting bigger. VMware and others came out strong on systems management and security tools. I guess they have been listening to their customers.

Continue reading "VMworld Wrap..."

Comment on this blog entry


Stonesoft Guards Against External and IntraHost Threats


By Joe Hernick | 03:21 PM ET, Feb 28, 2008

I spoke with Stonesoft on Wednesday regarding the company's new security solutions for VMware. Intrahost protection, anyone?

Continue reading "Stonesoft Guards Against External and IntraHost Threats..."

Comment on this blog entry


Newsflash: Reflex Is Not Dead


By Joe Hernick | 04:51 PM ET, Feb 26, 2008

A death notice was posted to one of my blogs last week. I'm guessing it was someone with a personal grudge. Turns out Reflex Security is alive and well.

Continue reading "Newsflash: Reflex Is Not Dead..."

Comment on this blog entry


If We're Headed Into A Recession, What Will Happen To IT?


By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee | 01:21 PM ET, Feb 26, 2008

IT budgets and tech staffs were clobbered during the recession of the early 2000s. But how would they survive this time around? Hasn't most of the "fat" already been slashed, or has much of it returned?

Continue reading "If We're Headed Into A Recession, What Will Happen To IT?..."

Comments(15)


Does WebOS = Virtualization?


By Joe Hernick | 11:22 PM ET, Feb 23, 2008

An Indy-based independent consultant I know turned me on to Stoneware, makers of a webOS, not the heavy stuff your mother-in-law collects. Will they break into the desktop virt market?

Continue reading "Does WebOS = Virtualization?..."

Comments(3)


Service Management In Acronym Land


By Joe Hernick | 10:35 PM ET, Feb 22, 2008

I had a very informal chat with a buddy of mine about service management. And virtualization. Many TLAs were used.

Continue reading "Service Management In Acronym Land..."

Comment on this blog entry


No Free Lunch


By Joe Hernick | 10:05 PM ET, Feb 21, 2008

The party invites keep rolling in for product announcements in Cannes. Where, sadly I won't be for VMworld Europe 2008. But I have received a number of goodies, offers, and handouts here in the States.

Continue reading "No Free Lunch..."

Comment on this blog entry


Citrix Beta Of XenServer 4.1 Targets March Production


By Joe Hernick | 11:25 PM ET, Feb 19, 2008

I was weighing topic posts tonight, and Xen won out over VMware. Will this be a trend in the market? Demo v4.1 and see for yourself.

Continue reading "Citrix Beta Of XenServer 4.1 Targets March Production..."

Comment on this blog entry


Green Benefit Calc For VM'ing Your Data Center


By Joe Hernick | 10:08 PM ET, Feb 16, 2008

Just how much CO2 is offset by virtualizing your servers? Oriel, an Aussie VMware partner, offers a calculator that explicitly shows the benefit to the planet for P-to-V conversions.

Continue reading "Green Benefit Calc For VM'ing Your Data Center..."

Comment on this blog entry


VMware Working The Channel


By Joe Hernick | 03:59 PM ET, Feb 15, 2008

I spoke with VMware last week about its recent channel initiatives. The company is listening to its partners, broadening incentives worldwide to crank up sales.

Continue reading "VMware Working The Channel..."

Comment on this blog entry


CA Surveys 300 IT Execs


By Joe Hernick | 11:21 PM ET, Feb 12, 2008

Last fall CA hit up IT management at shops earning $250M+ revenue to check the pulse of virtualization. Some 300 professionals from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Korea replied. They're sharing the goods.

Continue reading "CA Surveys 300 IT Execs..."

Comment on this blog entry


No Detente In Sight


By Joe Hernick | 10:27 PM ET, Feb 11, 2008

VMware and Citrix have been stepping on each other's toes. A bunch. Will they meet somewhere in the middle, or are they shooting for winner takes all?

Continue reading "No Detente In Sight..."

Comments(1)


An Obscure Concern


By Joe Hernick | 10:38 AM ET, Feb 8, 2008

I'm attending a symposium on Fair Use at Columbia Law today. Here's a 'rights' angle to consider for VMs while I listen to eight hours of lawyer-talk.

Continue reading "An Obscure Concern..."

Comments(1)


Time-Shares, Magic, And A Real World Tale


By Joe Hernick | 11:27 PM ET, Feb 6, 2008

I just got back from a short-term consulting gig in the mid-Atlantic region. The local IT team had heard of virtualization. Maybe.

Continue reading "Time-Shares, Magic, And A Real World Tale..."

Comment on this blog entry


Virtual Machines, Real Dollars


By Andrew Conry-Murray | 10:42 PM ET, Feb 5, 2008

VMware’s stock price might have tumbled, but that isn’t stopping VC investment in the virtualization space. Two startups raked in millions this week.

Continue reading "Virtual Machines, Real Dollars..."

Comment on this blog entry


VKernel Gets a Little VC Love, Too


By Joe Hernick | 10:28 PM ET, Feb 5, 2008

We've written about VKernel before; the young New Hampshire startup produces virtual appliances for VMware. It looks like the Nashua-based folks have something to be happy about after the Pats loss on Sunday -- they've picked up $4.6M in VC funding.

Continue reading "VKernel Gets a Little VC Love, Too..."

Comment on this blog entry



Go on to the weblog archives...



  1. RIM Makes The Touch-Screen, iPhone-Killing 'Thunder' A Reality
  2. Apple iPhone Vs. BlackBerry Curve
  3. Now That Google Has Won...
  4. Microsoft Boasts About Future Smartphone Market Share, Is Clearly Crazy
  5. Yes, Itýs Time To Destroy Your E-Mail Servers. What App Is Next?


  1. How Open Is Microsoft?
  2. Can Storage Resource Management Save Us From Ourselves? We Quiz 9 SRM Vendors To Find Out.
  3. SaaS To The Rescue
  4. SaaS CIO Checklist
  5. SaaS Market Heats Up
  6. With EDS, HP Buys Its Way Into Outsourcing Big Leagues

 

 
  • Learn how EMC Avamar optimizes backup in virtual infrastructures
  • Learn the benefits of CLARiiON integrated with VMware ESX Servers
  • EMC and VMware can help you build a virtualized infrastructure
  • Let EMC help you expand the benefits of your virtual environment
  • Optimize, control and manage backup solutions with EMC and Vmware


  •  

      Ars Technica
    Boing Boing
    Channel 9 Forums
    CRN Blogs
    Dr.Dobb's Portal: Blogs
    Engadget
    Gizmodo
    GrokLaw
      Lifehacker
    Schneier on Security
    Slashdot
    TechCrunch
    Techdirt
    Techmeme
    Valleywag

      FEBRUARY 2008
    JANUARY 2008
    DECEMBER 2007
    NOVEMBER 2007
    OCTOBER 2007
    SEPTEMBER 2007
    AUGUST 2007
    JULY 2007
      JUNE 2007
    MAY 2007
    APRIL 2007
    MARCH 2007
    FEBRUARY 2007
    JANUARY 2007
    DECEMBER 2006
    NOVEMBER 2006