From Jason Boche's blog:
Today at the Minneapolis VMware User Group (VMUG) meeting, VMware employees disclosed to a group of 150+ attendees the new name for the next generation of Virtual Infrastructure many have been referring to as VI4 or VI.next. The new name is VMware vSphere. I value and respect the various relationships I have with VMware and thus before posting this news, I checked with authoritative sources inside VMware. VMware Marketing has endorsed the release of this information to the public. VMware also released a few new configuration maximum details on vSphere but for now I am keeping that information to myself. Other audience members in attendance may decide to break this news.
Why does this matter to cloud computing fans, you ask?
VMWare's vCloud vision depends greatly on the upcoming features that expand the scale in which VMWare's core products can operate; expanding beyond the server to the data center as a whole and beyond. Rumors of features such as over-WAN migration of virtual machines in VI4 are key to the vision of federated VMWare-based clouds becoming a reality. So, create a Google Alert for vSphere, sit back and watch the show.
VMware said on Wednesday that it plans to acquire B-hive, a small company specializing in performance management tools for applications running on virtual machine-based systems.
B-hive, based in San Mateo, Calif. with a research and development center in Israel, was founded in 2005. VMware said that it will use B-hive's technology to offer performance management and service-level reporting for applications running on VMware virtual machines.
VMware will transition B-hive's R&D facility and team into a new development center in Israel. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The deal, expected to close in the third quarter.
In spite of the wild success around server virtualization, many users perceived that security was a server virtualization achilles heel. The hypervisor (i.e. guts of server virtualization) was a bit of a black box where security technologies had no visibility. As a result, security tools assumed that each virtual host was really a physical server. Take it from me, security professionals get really edgy when presented with these types of muddy situations.
At this week's VMworld Europe, founder Mendel Rosenblum announced VMsafe, a new security enhancement to VMware that may address this gap. At a high level, VMsafe is a set of APIs that provide "outside-in" visibility into the hypervisor. In other words, security tools will be able to inspect I/O traffic, operating system instructions, and data written to memory BEFORE they hit the virtual hosts.
Why is this important? A lot of today's host-based security software runs in the very same operating system layer as most malware. This gives the bad guys the opportunity for dirty tricks like attacking the operating system kernel, turning off security protection, or hide in places like device drivers, where the security software can't see. From a security perspective, this is akin to trying to catch a malicious insider who knows all of the short cuts and secret passageways. With VMsafe, malicious code is frisked by a bouncer at the door before it comes inside. Like criminals, malware can't do any damage if it never gains access to the loot.
In typical fashion, VMware made this announcement with the backing of its deep ecosystem of partners including security industry leaders like Check Point Software Technologies, F5, IBM, McAfee, RSA Security, Symantec, and Trend Micro. This makes VMsafe an instant industry initiative and not simply a company announcement.
When you're hot, you're hot. VMsafe is a real improvement that could make a virtual environment more secure than actual, physical servers. As for VMware, the company continues to address user requirements, innovate, and build its partner ecosystem. With Citrix, Microsoft, Oracle, and Sun looking for their own pound of server virtualization flesh, VMware is intent on maintaining--and extending--its leadership position.
Correction at 7:40 a.m. Friday: The spelling of Xen has been corrected. Thanks to the reader who pointed out the typo.
Old friend and East Coast VC bigwig Bob Davoli has long had a theory about successful technology companies that goes something like this. Success begins with strong products that establish a large customer-installed base. Once the product gains traction, users find the need for supporting technologies and tools. The product vendor will certainly provide these but the real success metric is when third parties see demand and join the fray. Finally, as the product scope grows, it also carries more operational overhead and complexity. Service providers are only too happy to take over these tasks for end users.
When this cycle occurs, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Everyone promotes the technology in order to sell their own wares. In other words, the original product turns into a technology ecosystem.
Technology veterans will certainly recognize this pattern and have lots of examples. It happened with relational databases, Windows, and even the Apple iPod. Now it's happening with VMware. That's right. What was once a tool to improve server utilization for engineers is now an ecosystem of third-party products and services. ESG's server virtualization guru Mark Bowker tells me that there were 15,000 people at the Moscone Center for VMworld. Heck, that's almost as many as RSA and that's the premier security event in the U.S. I'd say that's pretty impressive.
What this tells me is that regardless of what happens with Windows Server 2008, Xen, or Citrix, VMware wins. In the technology world, ecosystems trump products every time.
Enterprise Strategy Group's resident expert on all things server virtualization, Mark Bowker, tells me that there were 15,000 people at VMworld a few weeks ago. Not a surprise, the industry is gaga over server virtualization as more users look to turn physical servers into consolidated virtual partitions.
The irony here is that while the server virtualization chatter focuses on VMware, Xen, Citrix, and Microsoft, the venerable IBM zSeries (i.e. mainframe) will likely be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this virtualization frenzy.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
The reason for this is fairly simple. Server virtualization is all about rationalizing IT assets and costs. Why have a bunch of Intel servers running at 10 percent utilization when you can consolidate them on a single server running at 80 percent utilization?
Once CIOs are willing to follow this line of reasoning, consolidating resources on a mainframe is a logical next step. Mainframe virtualization is rock solid, operationally efficient, and well understood. Intel server virtualization, on the other hand, remains a work in progress. When CIOs take the time to "do the math" they will find that the ROI on moving 20 old Sun systems to Linux-based mainframe VMs is a lot higher than creating 100 virtual Intel server partitions on 10 physical boxes.
IBM gets this value and has 30-plus years of experience in marketing mainframe virtualization. Beyond vision alone, IBM also has tons of charts, graphs, and customer-use cases illustrating TCO and ROI benefits, that extend from rationalizing hardware assets to reducing the corporate carbon footprint. Of course, most users are embracing VMware for Windows consolidation, something that the zSeries system can't do today. True, but IBM can still roll a blade server in (for Windows virtualization) next to the mainframe (for Linux virtualization) and manage the whole ball of wax through Tivoli operations-management tools. The mainframe still wins.
It's funny. When you think about VMware, green IT, SOA and other trendy IT topics you never even consider the mainframe. Nevertheless, IBM continues to repurpose the platform, sell more MIPS, and give customers more platform bang for the buck. In the case of server virtualization, the whole industry is making IBM's case. Technologies come and go, but the mainframe never seems to go out of style.
VMware said Tuesday it has bought Dunes Technologies, a company that makes software for managing several virtual machines, for an undisclosed amount.
Privately held Dunes, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, has developed a line as automation tools for coordinating the installation and management of virtual machines in corporate data centers.
A virtual machine is an instance of an operating system. By running several virtual machines on a single server, companies can consolidate several computing jobs onto a single server.
Dunes' technology, which should complement virtualization specialist VMware's existing management tools, is aimed at streamlining administration of several virtual machines, according to the company.
"Dunes has developed a powerful orchestration platform that will allow us to automate the entire virtual machine lifecycle from requisition to de-commissioning," Raghu Raghuram, vice president of products and solutions at VMware, said in a statement.
The company announced the acquisition at its VMworld 2007 conference in San Francisco.
Nick Gault apparently just can't get enough of virtualization start-ups.
Gault, who was founding chief executive of XenSource but who was replaced in 2006, now is leading Pano Logic, another virtualization start-up. XenSource was mostly focused on servers, but Pano Logic's emphasis is on desktop PCs, the company said as it announced its strategy Monday.
Virtualization, as most often described these days, enables a single computer to run multiple operating systems at the same time. Ideally, it increases the efficiency of hardware use, eases management burdens and enables a more flexible computing infrastructure in which software can be moved more easily from one machine to another to accommodate changing priorities and hardware failures. It's a hot area, as exhibited by Citrix's $500 million purchase of XenSource and VMware's hot initial public offering.
Pano Logic relies on software from VMware to carve a server into multiple partitions. Then its hardware securely connects users' monitors, keyboards, mice, USB ports and audio system to the server over an Ethernet network. The software can use either the free VMware Server or the more complicated VMware ESX Server.
The technology will be available starting in September.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's investors include ComVentures and Foundation Capital.
Investors in VMware's initial public offering got a rocket ride Tuesday morning, as the highly anticipated IPO launched out of the gate with an initial trade of $52 a share.
VMware investors who
Not bad, noted
"VMware is poised to be the No. 1 first-day gainer for the year," Peterson said. "And although it was anticipated to be well-received, it came out on a day when the overall markets are down by 150 points, making its debut all the more impressive."
VMware joins 43 other tech IPOs that have debuted this year, which are part of the overall group of 142 deals that have gone out to date. Fortress Investment, a financial services company, gained 67 percent at the close of its first day of trading and VMware appears on track to beat the figure.
VMware, which develops virtualization software for servers, has grabbed investors attention for several reasons. One, the company's IPO comes at a time when virtualization is playing a greater role in the computing world. VMware's software, for example, is designed to allow a single server to run a number of operating systems simultaneously on different "virtual machines." And two, it was an established operation that was spun out of storage titan EMC, which had
VMware's software aims to put this virtualization technology on lower-priced servers, rather than leaving it for the more expensive mainframe computers and older Unix servers.
VMware, which sold 33 million shares to the public and raised $975 million, currently has a market value of $19.5 billion based on its first trade of the day.
Looks like EMC got its money worth, before setting the company free.
VMware is in the news these days for two related reasons.
First, VMware Fusion for Mac OS X recently went on sale. Fusion enables Mac users to run Windows and other operating systems simultaneously with their regular Mac applications, which pretty much solves the old problem of ... Read more
Cisco Systems said it will pay $150 million for a small stake in a virtualization software company called VMware, which operates as a unit of storage giant EMC.
Cisco's stake in the company will be about 1.6 percent. VMware is the leader in what is turning out to be a hot market. The division makes software that allows a computer or server to function as if it were several. The software emulates features of a computer, which makes it easier to run multiple operating systems and applications on a single machine. Companies benefit because the software allows them to use more computing power out of individual computers and servers. It reduces the number of new machines they have to buy, which can often provide huge capital savings as well as operational savings, especially in reducing energy costs.
Analysts say that VMware has about 85 percent market share in the virtualization business at the moment. The market is expected to grow to about $20 billion annually in the next few years.
VMware is so hot now that EMC is preparing to spin off 10 percent of the unit in an initial public offering. EMC reported on Tuesday that VMware grew sales 89 percent to $298 million in the second quarter compared to the previous year.
Earlier this month, Intel agreed to invest $218.5 million in VMware. Meanwhile Microsoft, the largest potential rival to VMware, is gearing up to challenge the company. But Microsoft has already postponed the public beta version of its main product that is supposed to rival VMware's software. It's expected to be out in the second half of this year.
Cisco, which primarily makes switches and routers that shuttle IP traffic around networks, is interested in VMware because it will help Cisco's corporate customers run their data centers more efficiently. Once the deal is complete, Cisco will have less than one percent of the outstanding voting stock in the company, but VMware has agreed to consider naming a Cisco executive to its board once it goes public.
