ON THE MAP
VMware also cited the following upcoming products on its road map for the virtual data center: vCenter ConfigControl will take policy-based controls on configuration management and extend them across the virtual data center; vCenter CapacityIQ will monitor existing VM capacity and add capacity to maintain virtual machines of the right size; and vCenter Chargeback will allow automated tracking of resource use and associated costs, to give managers visibility into operational costs.

VCenter Orchestrator will generate a workflow to automate operational tasks through drag-and-drop interactions, eliminating the need to write scripts that start, stop, or link together applications; vCenter AppSpeed will monitor application response times to users and trigger remedial measures, such as spinning up a new virtual machine, when a bottleneck is spotted.

VMware has an ambitious road map, one that asks tough questions about how the virtualized data center will be managed and what resources it will tap and control. "The answers they're coming up with," says Forrester's Gillett, "say VMware is about more than just virtualization."