Comments on: Red Hat acquires way into Windows game

Linux seller buys Qumranet, an open-source virtualization company, for what sources say is roughly $100 million. The acquisition gives Red Hat an instant Microsoft solution.

[mbenedict]

I can't see the value proposition of Solid ICE in the enterprise environment RedHat wants it to play in.

The problem with Solid ICE is you need a (real) desktop to access the (virtual) desktop. So it doesn't reduce the IT infrastructure at all, it actually makes it more complicated.

Solid ICE only makes sense if you assume the real desktop is "free" (like a remote user from home who already has a desktop) but this assumption doesn't hold in an enterprise environment, where even remote users will likely be mandated to use corporate-issued laptops for security purposes.

Once you calculate the cost of maintaining "thin" desktops and supporting virtual desktops (with all the support issues of real desktops), the ROI doesn't look so good anymore.

Also, for (local & remote) enterprise users, what you need isn't delivery of OS-level virtualization but a way to control/restrict network, application and data access. OS virtualization is there to help reduce the hardware & manageability costs, but is not the primary need.

An Application virtualization solution like the Citrix Presentation Server (aka XenApp) makes much more sense for end-user delivery. Then you can use your hypervisors to reduce the cost of implementation.

[Penguinisto]

Err, you could say the same about Citrix, yet for some odd reason folks buy the thing in droves.

[alice244]

Compared to VirtualBox, Solid ICE is over engineered, too heavyweight. Don't know why Red Hat made this acquisition when they could've just picked up VirtualBox. Everyone I know is already running it...

[cohaver]

Citrix and other central servers offer a better way for spam and bot nets to infect and build data that can be sold to 3 parties. Application virtualization is open window for remote code application in same way active x .php or JavaScript is. You ever wonder how your company get those sales ad's or phone calls from sales people out of the blue. my point if Redhat can harden the base code all the better. Encrypt
the search url data and better control of exchange process in virtualization between programs remote virtualization should have better url encrypt key security.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Red Hat is taking steps to offer an all-in-one box solution for a desktop to access a virtual machines online. That's not a bad idea at all and they could benefit customers from the support standpoint. An integrated solution will help them greatly to compete with Microsoft and Apple products which have been doing this for years now. More competition is a good thing.

[Penguinisto]

Incidentally, this looks like a cross between rdesktop and a web interface to use it (I use rdesktop to reach the few Windows servers I have left to deal with). If you're running Fedora and/or Ubuntu, you can get rdesktop from the "Add/Remove Programs" section of their respective GUIs (or at the CLI, use yum for Fedora and/or apt for Ubuntu). Neat tool, though.

I suspect Microsoft would actually enjoy seeing such a solution (or rather, more of them) since it allows them to not worry so much about PHB's saying: "well, we use Linux for our servers, so why are we paying through the nose to license all these Windows desktops"?

/P

[tristanbob]

Matt,

Keep your eye on Sun's open source virtualization story. I am very impressed by what they are doing.

1) xVM OpsCenter - Powerful management of servers and virtualization
2) xVM VDI - Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
3) xVM Server - Currently based on Xen, with great features added (soon to be released)
4) xVM VirtualBox - Very popular, and they just released version 2.0 today!

My predition is that VMware pricing is going to drop like a rock due to Sun's products and Red Hat's KVM product (when it is released). Once again, open source is disrupting the market!

Tristan

[ShaunRConnolly]

I posted an article that ponders if this move by Red Hat is strategic or tactical.

http://connollyshaun.blogspot.com/2008/09/red-hat-acquires-qumranet-tactical-or.html

While this move gives them control over KVM (a key virtualization technology that helps counterbalance Xen's dominance), I argue this move feels tactical and inward-facing, rather than strategic.

In my article I offer up what I would consider to be a strategic move for Red Hat.