DreamWorks Goes Extreme with Scale-Out Storage System
( Page 1 of 2 )
Famed animation studio DreamWorks in April 2009 added Hewlett-Packard's fanciest new storage system, StorageWorks 9100 Extreme Data Storage, to its shops. The scale-out ExDS9100 system acts as an online reference library for DreamWorks' popular 3D films, and DreamWorks has big plans for the system.
Digital video quality is getting richer all the time, as are some lucky producers who hit the jackpot with movies that are box-office smashes.
As video continues to be rendered with more multiple images and as more bits per second are jammed onto disks, storage and accurate recall of all that data becomes an increasingly strategic part of the overall production picture—especially when it comes to stereoscopic 3D movies, which are having a rebirth right now.
Stereoscopic three-dimensional movies that required two analog projectors and red-and-blue glasses to view them were a fad in the 1950s that eventually petered out due to lack of standards, quality controls and other factors.
Resource Library:
But now 3D movies are back in digital form, and they come with a much higher quality quotient. They're also taking up much more capacity in studio data centers; studio IT administrators are well aware of the insatiable nature of the content monster.
DreamWorks is continually buying new storage. "Storage isn't a buying decision anymore," DreamWorks Senior Technologist Skottie Miller told eWEEK in 2008. "It's a way of life."
Here's a stark example of this dilemma: When DreamWorks' first "Shrek" movie debuted in May 2001, it required about 6TB of capacity in DreamWorks' data centers. Eight years later, the studio's most recent release, "Monsters vs. Aliens," requires a bit more elbow room—as in 93TB of capacity.
Both movies took more than four years to create and produce. Both have about the same running time: "Shrek" is 90 minutes, "Monsters vs. Aliens" is 94 minutes. There's simply a lot more depth of field, colors, action and special effects as the movies get increasingly sophisticated.
The bottom line: If you're going to have a quality product, you have to make a home for it. With all the new content pouring into its coffers on a 24/7 basis from its artists, DreamWorks had to figure out how to classify and store all those terabytes of video—and in an easily accessible archiving system.
DreamWorks' storage systems, located in data centers in Northern and Southern California and in Bangalore, India, use products from Hewlett-Packard, NetApp and Ibrix for different duties. Extremely powerful dual-core Intel "Woodcrest"-powered workstations have been supplied by HP for the last eight years.
In April 2009, the studio—which has a longstanding relationship with HP—added the company's newest package, the HP StorageWorks 9100 Extreme Data Storage System. This scale-out system acts as an online reference library for "Monsters vs. Aliens" and previous films, such as "Madagascar," "Bee Movie" and "Kung Fu Panda."
"Scale-out" is a relatively recent data center industry buzzword referring to architectures for systems running thousands of servers that are required to scale nearly ad infinitum in order to comfortably handle massive workloads.
Production isn't going to be slowing down any time soon, with all the potential profits to be made. As of June 15, "Monsters vs. Aliens" had banked $195,246,609, according to industry researcher Box Office Mojo.
"Not only are we making more 3D-type movies, but we're ramping up our production schedule from four movies every two years to five movies in two years," Derek Chan, head of digital operations for DreamWorks Animation, told eWEEK.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Quantum CEO Offers His Take on EMC's Pursuit of Data Domain
Veteran IT executive Rick Belluzzo tells eWEEK he believes EMC's motivation is more about keeping Data Domain out of NetApp's hands than about the acquisition of highly regarded deduplication software.
A lot of people in the data storage world are watching the skirmish between EMC and NetApp as they contest who is going to acquire deduplication specialist Data Domain.
The prevailing wisdom is that EMC and NetApp both want to acquire Data Domain for its highly regarded, midrange-market storage deduplication appliances, which are fast, cost-effective and easy to use.
But at least one key figure, Quantum CEO Rick Belluzzo, thinks there may be more to it than that.
A little background: Data Domain's board of directors accepted a revised offer of $1.9 billion in cash and stock from NetApp on June 3 and intends to stick with it. EMC, swimming in cash, has offered a cool, unsolicited $1.8 billion in straight dollars to complete the transaction.
It's also no secret that EMC would like to extend its reach into the midrange and SMB storage markets during the next few years, and Data Domain would be one way to improve that standing immediately.
Resource Library:
But there is a difference of opinion about what exactly EMC's motives are.
All these merger and acquisition shenanigans don't play all that well with Quantum, a longtime EMC partner that supplies both deduplication software and virtually all the tape storage that EMC sells.
Even though Data Domain has accepted the NetApp offer, there are many people in the business who will not yet write off EMC. EMC is an acquisition-oriented company accustomed to getting what it wants. The Hopkinton, Mass.-based company has taken over about 50 storage- and security-related firms in the last six years.
If EMC were to acquire Data Domain and its prized deduplication wares, that would give EMC no fewer than three different deduplication products. EMC started by buying Avamar Technologies in 2006 for $165 million, then signed a partnership with Quantum and now is trying to add Data Domain.
How many dedupe choices does one company need?
Belluzzo is quite aware of all this and is convinced that EMC's dance with Data Domain is more about keeping Data Domain out of NetApp's grasp than it is about acquiring any additional technology—no matter how good it may be.
"EMC already has a great relationship with us for enterprise dedupe, and it is working well for both companies," Belluzzo told eWEEK. "I can't see that adding Data Domain's products really will add that much value in the broader scope of their product line.
"I do think that NetApp, which is a growing company, would benefit greatly by adding Data Domain because it has products that NetApp really needs. I believe that EMC just doesn't want to see that deal happen."
Belluzzo pointed out that Quantum's deduplication software is much better suited for the high-end enterprise market because it scales further than Data Domain's.
"Our DXi [storage system line] can start at less than 1TB and go all the way up to 220TB of usable capacity with a single software architecture. Data Domain tops out at 32TB," Belluzzo said.
"Quantum also provides tight integration with tape machines, and features policy-based deduplication and replication capacities for both VTLs [virtual tape libraries] and NAS [network-attached disk storage], and it's all centrally managed."
Last week, Quantum introduced its DXi2500-D, a high-performance, deduplication appliance for remote and branch offices optimized for replication back to a central data center.
"This has about four to five times the capacity of Data Domain's appliance at about the same price," Belluzzo said.
EMC CEO, President and Chairman Joe Tucci has said publicly that he admires Data Domain for its accomplishments and that the smaller company often reminds him of EMC itself.
Tucci also has said that if EMC does acquire Data Domain, EMC will expand development of one of its flagship products that uses Quantum's software.
Another interesting bond between Quantum and EMC, Belluzzo said, is the fact that EMC recently loaned $75 million to Quantum to improve Quantum's capital structure.
If EMC can persuade Data Domain's board and stockholders to reject the NetApp deal, it will gain a stronger presence in the midrange storage market and gain a lot of loyal Data Domain customers. The midmarket, where Data Domain is a growing supplier, is by far the fastest-developing segment of the overall market.
A lot of people in the data storage world are watching the skirmish between EMC and NetApp as they contest who is going to acquire deduplication specialist Data Domain.
The prevailing wisdom is that EMC and NetApp both want to acquire Data Domain for its highly regarded, midrange-market storage deduplication appliances, which are fast, cost-effective and easy to use.
But at least one key figure, Quantum CEO Rick Belluzzo, thinks there may be more to it than that.
A little background: Data Domain's board of directors accepted a revised offer of $1.9 billion in cash and stock from NetApp on June 3 and intends to stick with it. EMC, swimming in cash, has offered a cool, unsolicited $1.8 billion in straight dollars to complete the transaction.
It's also no secret that EMC would like to extend its reach into the midrange and SMB storage markets during the next few years, and Data Domain would be one way to improve that standing immediately.
Resource Library:
But there is a difference of opinion about what exactly EMC's motives are.
All these merger and acquisition shenanigans don't play all that well with Quantum, a longtime EMC partner that supplies both deduplication software and virtually all the tape storage that EMC sells.
Even though Data Domain has accepted the NetApp offer, there are many people in the business who will not yet write off EMC. EMC is an acquisition-oriented company accustomed to getting what it wants. The Hopkinton, Mass.-based company has taken over about 50 storage- and security-related firms in the last six years.
If EMC were to acquire Data Domain and its prized deduplication wares, that would give EMC no fewer than three different deduplication products. EMC started by buying Avamar Technologies in 2006 for $165 million, then signed a partnership with Quantum and now is trying to add Data Domain.
How many dedupe choices does one company need?
Belluzzo is quite aware of all this and is convinced that EMC's dance with Data Domain is more about keeping Data Domain out of NetApp's grasp than it is about acquiring any additional technology—no matter how good it may be.
"EMC already has a great relationship with us for enterprise dedupe, and it is working well for both companies," Belluzzo told eWEEK. "I can't see that adding Data Domain's products really will add that much value in the broader scope of their product line.
"I do think that NetApp, which is a growing company, would benefit greatly by adding Data Domain because it has products that NetApp really needs. I believe that EMC just doesn't want to see that deal happen."
Belluzzo pointed out that Quantum's deduplication software is much better suited for the high-end enterprise market because it scales further than Data Domain's.
"Our DXi [storage system line] can start at less than 1TB and go all the way up to 220TB of usable capacity with a single software architecture. Data Domain tops out at 32TB," Belluzzo said.
"Quantum also provides tight integration with tape machines, and features policy-based deduplication and replication capacities for both VTLs [virtual tape libraries] and NAS [network-attached disk storage], and it's all centrally managed."
Last week, Quantum introduced its DXi2500-D, a high-performance, deduplication appliance for remote and branch offices optimized for replication back to a central data center.
"This has about four to five times the capacity of Data Domain's appliance at about the same price," Belluzzo said.
EMC CEO, President and Chairman Joe Tucci has said publicly that he admires Data Domain for its accomplishments and that the smaller company often reminds him of EMC itself.
Tucci also has said that if EMC does acquire Data Domain, EMC will expand development of one of its flagship products that uses Quantum's software.
Another interesting bond between Quantum and EMC, Belluzzo said, is the fact that EMC recently loaned $75 million to Quantum to improve Quantum's capital structure.
If EMC can persuade Data Domain's board and stockholders to reject the NetApp deal, it will gain a stronger presence in the midrange storage market and gain a lot of loyal Data Domain customers. The midmarket, where Data Domain is a growing supplier, is by far the fastest-developing segment of the overall market.
HP, VMware Team Up on Virtualization Management
HP and VMware are growing their partnership to make it easier for businesses to manage their virtualized and physical environments using a single offering. VMware is incorporating HP’s Discover and Dependency Mapping app into its upcoming vCenter ConfigControl software. In addition, HP is support VMware’s ThinApp software with its own Client Automation management software.
Hewlett-Packard and VMware are looking to make it easier for businesses to manage their virtual and physical client and server environments.
The two companies at the HP Software Universe 2009 show June 16 in Las Vegas announced that VMware in 2010 will integrate HP’s Discovery and Dependency Mapping application into its vCenter ConfigControl software.
The combination of the management software offerings will give users of VMware’s vSphere virtualization platform greater visibility into their environments and a better way to map business services in the virtual environment into their physical systems.Resource Library:
Businesses will have a single window through which to also automate such management tasks as change detection, provisioning, patching and compliance and security enforcement, according to officials with HP and VMware.
In addition, HP’s Client Automation management platform will now support VMware’s ThinApp application virtualization technology. The support means that users will have an easier time keeping track of virtualized and physical applications.
VMware ThinApp users can take advantage of the preconfigured templates in HP’s Client Automation software and use reports generated by the HP offering to track virtual and physical applications for enhanced asset management.
The two companies also will develop joint go-to-market and sales programs.
Businesses will get multiple benefits from the HP-VMware collaboration, according to Ramin Sayar, vice president of products, software and solutions at HP.
"Customers are looking for a dramatically better approach to IT management in order to reduce costs and risks, while achieving integrated seamless management of the physical and virtual datacenter," Sayar said in a statement. "The combination of HP software and VMware solutions will provide customers with an end-to-end automated solution for building and managing next-generation datacenters."
Hewlett-Packard and VMware are looking to make it easier for businesses to manage their virtual and physical client and server environments.
The two companies at the HP Software Universe 2009 show June 16 in Las Vegas announced that VMware in 2010 will integrate HP’s Discovery and Dependency Mapping application into its vCenter ConfigControl software.
The combination of the management software offerings will give users of VMware’s vSphere virtualization platform greater visibility into their environments and a better way to map business services in the virtual environment into their physical systems.Resource Library:
Businesses will have a single window through which to also automate such management tasks as change detection, provisioning, patching and compliance and security enforcement, according to officials with HP and VMware.
In addition, HP’s Client Automation management platform will now support VMware’s ThinApp application virtualization technology. The support means that users will have an easier time keeping track of virtualized and physical applications.
VMware ThinApp users can take advantage of the preconfigured templates in HP’s Client Automation software and use reports generated by the HP offering to track virtual and physical applications for enhanced asset management.
The two companies also will develop joint go-to-market and sales programs.
Businesses will get multiple benefits from the HP-VMware collaboration, according to Ramin Sayar, vice president of products, software and solutions at HP.
"Customers are looking for a dramatically better approach to IT management in order to reduce costs and risks, while achieving integrated seamless management of the physical and virtual datacenter," Sayar said in a statement. "The combination of HP software and VMware solutions will provide customers with an end-to-end automated solution for building and managing next-generation datacenters."
Dell Expands Enterprise Technology Portfolio
Dell focuses on virtualization and high-performance computing for its next round of updates to its lines, which include new PowerEdge servers and the EqualLogic PS4000 storage array, as well as new consulting services. The new Dell products have been tailored to focus on the needs of both enterprise and SMBs.
Dell announced a variety of business-centric products and services on June 17, primarily servers and consulting offerings designed to make the creation of data centers, and the implementation of virtualization, a more efficient task for the enterprise and SMBs alike.
The company’s small-to-midsize-business offerings include the EqualLogic PS4000 storage array and the PowerVault NX3000 NAS (network-attached storage) device. The former is designed to offer enterprise-class storage virtualization, thin provisioning and management capabilities, while the latter reduces duplicate files with SIS (Single-Instant Storage) technology while sharing files across Windows and non-Windows clients. The NX3000 can also double as an optional iSCSI target in the support of application data.
Dell is also introducing the PowerEdge T410 and T710 tower servers, which are aimed specifically at both SMBs wrestling with small amounts of space and businesses across the size range looking to boost their productivity.Resource Library:
For more specs and photos of Dell's newest servers, click here.
At 24 inches deep, the short chassis of the PowerEdge T410 is designed to compact itself into tight spaces and shallow racks. Both the T410 and the T710 feature one-button deployment via the Lifecycle Controller, and the T710 can include up to 16 drives for large local storage capacity.
On the high-performance computing end, Dell is also introducing the PowerEdge R410, designed for intensive high-performance computing workloads. The company claims these new servers have a 73 percent performance improvement over the last generation, while also saving power. The device includes the DMC (Dell Management Console) and Dell Lifecycle Controller for simplified management.
In addition, Dell is pairing its new hardware lines with a variety of consulting and other services designed to streamline implementation into both SMBs and the enterprise. The Dell ProConsult offerings include five consulting options designed to optimize the data center, each focusing on a specific area: Platform Optimization & Virtualization, Data Center Planning & Management, Disaster Recovery, Data Management, and Facilities Efficiency.
Dell is also offering two “business-ready” virtualization configurations to introduce a virtual enterprise infrastructure into a business. These two infrastructures include Data Center Virtualization Configuration, which combines Dell PowerEdge M-series blades and EqualLogic PS600 iSCSI storage technology, Cisco Catalyst networking switches, VMware vSphere 4 and Platspin Migrate from Novell; and Small and Medium Business Virtualization Configuration, which combines a variety of hardware, including the PowerEdge R710 and the Dell PowerVault MD3000i, with Microsoft’s virtualization suite.
Other additions to Dell’s virtual solutions line include enhanced hypervisors, with support for VMware vSphere 4, Windows Server 2208 R2 Hyper-V and Citrix Essentials for XenServer 5.0; enhanced disaster recovery with reduced application downtime and managed data protection; and application virtualization. The Dell ProManage Virtual Server Remote Monitoring and Reporting allows IT administrators improved visibility into VM performance, to determine the average utilization of everything from processor to disk at the VM level and to, ultimately, save time.
Dell announced a variety of business-centric products and services on June 17, primarily servers and consulting offerings designed to make the creation of data centers, and the implementation of virtualization, a more efficient task for the enterprise and SMBs alike.
The company’s small-to-midsize-business offerings include the EqualLogic PS4000 storage array and the PowerVault NX3000 NAS (network-attached storage) device. The former is designed to offer enterprise-class storage virtualization, thin provisioning and management capabilities, while the latter reduces duplicate files with SIS (Single-Instant Storage) technology while sharing files across Windows and non-Windows clients. The NX3000 can also double as an optional iSCSI target in the support of application data.
Dell is also introducing the PowerEdge T410 and T710 tower servers, which are aimed specifically at both SMBs wrestling with small amounts of space and businesses across the size range looking to boost their productivity.Resource Library:
For more specs and photos of Dell's newest servers, click here.
At 24 inches deep, the short chassis of the PowerEdge T410 is designed to compact itself into tight spaces and shallow racks. Both the T410 and the T710 feature one-button deployment via the Lifecycle Controller, and the T710 can include up to 16 drives for large local storage capacity.
On the high-performance computing end, Dell is also introducing the PowerEdge R410, designed for intensive high-performance computing workloads. The company claims these new servers have a 73 percent performance improvement over the last generation, while also saving power. The device includes the DMC (Dell Management Console) and Dell Lifecycle Controller for simplified management.
In addition, Dell is pairing its new hardware lines with a variety of consulting and other services designed to streamline implementation into both SMBs and the enterprise. The Dell ProConsult offerings include five consulting options designed to optimize the data center, each focusing on a specific area: Platform Optimization & Virtualization, Data Center Planning & Management, Disaster Recovery, Data Management, and Facilities Efficiency.
Dell is also offering two “business-ready” virtualization configurations to introduce a virtual enterprise infrastructure into a business. These two infrastructures include Data Center Virtualization Configuration, which combines Dell PowerEdge M-series blades and EqualLogic PS600 iSCSI storage technology, Cisco Catalyst networking switches, VMware vSphere 4 and Platspin Migrate from Novell; and Small and Medium Business Virtualization Configuration, which combines a variety of hardware, including the PowerEdge R710 and the Dell PowerVault MD3000i, with Microsoft’s virtualization suite.
Other additions to Dell’s virtual solutions line include enhanced hypervisors, with support for VMware vSphere 4, Windows Server 2208 R2 Hyper-V and Citrix Essentials for XenServer 5.0; enhanced disaster recovery with reduced application downtime and managed data protection; and application virtualization. The Dell ProManage Virtual Server Remote Monitoring and Reporting allows IT administrators improved visibility into VM performance, to determine the average utilization of everything from processor to disk at the VM level and to, ultimately, save time.
Friday, June 12, 2009
RingCube Takes On VMware, Citrix in Desktop Virtualization
RingCube is unveiling vDesk 2.0, the latest version of its desktop virtualization product. A key new offering within vDesk 2.0 is the Workspace Virtualization Engine, which is designed to make it easier for enterprises to manage, deploy and secure their desktop virtualization environments. It also is a key differentiator for RingCube in a competitive space that includes VMware and Citrix, RingCube officials say.
RingCube Technologies is rolling out the next generation of its vDesk desktop virtualization technology, including a new feature designed to improve the manageability and security around the offering.
RingCube’s vDesk 2.0, announced May 1, includes the company’s WVE (Workspace Virtualization Engine), which company officials say is a key differentiator in a highly competitive field that includes such companies as VMware and Citrix Systems.
It also comes the same week that Quest Software, at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas, announced it was integrating its Quest vWorkspace virtual desktop management offering with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Microsoft App-V (Application Virtualization) technology.
Doug Dooley, vice president of product management at RingCube, said the company is looking to separate itself from other vendors in the desktop virtualization space by coming out with solutions that don’t require a lot of upfront costs or require a lot of duplicate Windows licenses.
VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) solutions require high upfront costs—sometimes in the millions of dollars—and they bring with them more storage and power and cooling expenses, Dooley said. By comparison, a vDesk solution for 2,500 users runs around $500,000, he said.Resource Library:
In addition, mobility is an issue with VDI, Dooley said.
An eWEEK Labs analyst says there's no need to rush into VDI.
RingCube’s vDesk offering is designed to enable enterprise users to put the technology on their work PCs or on unmanaged systems, such as their home computers. When they turn on vDesk, it gives them a personalized virtual workspace, complete with their own settings, files, applications and desktop, Dooley said. The company’s MobileSync technology then lets users synchronize their vDesk workspace between PCs, USB drives or other portable media, a network file share or VDI environments.
RingCube’s WVE in vDesk 2.0 offers what Dooley called a lightweight virtual desktop, with an isolated network stack and support for such applications as endpoint security, databases and PC management software, which require drivers and security services.
Among the components of WVE are vDeskNet, which enables virtual networking by separating and isolating network traffic from the host PC, and virtual user management, which gives the virtual workspace a unique set of user accounts separate from the host PC.
The Virtual Security Store offers a separate storage area within the virtual workspace for such items as certificates, and Virtual Windows Services offer improve application isolation from the host machine.
Other security and isolation controls in vDesk 2.0 come through virtual workspace encryption though integration with third-party software, as well as a virtual networking stack that isolates all network traffic inside the virtual workspace from the host system.
The goal is to give users an easier and more secure way to run a virtual desktop environment, Dooley said.
“This thing is not the hardest thing to get your arms around as far as deployment is concerned,” he said.
The vDesk solution also offers improved management enabling enterprises to create single workspace, then give employees their own version of that master copy. There is also a more streamlined log-in process.
Dooley said businesses are beginning to take a hard look at desktop virtualization solutions, driving in large part by the need to reduce operating and capital costs and to improve business continuity.
“It’s so early in the [desktop virtualization space],” he said. “We are where we were with server virtualization five years ago.”
Dooley said he expects interest in desktop virtualization to grow, and sees Microsoft’s upcoming introduction of Windows 7 as a driver to get enterprises thinking more about their desktop environments.
“I don’t think people are going to stay on the status quo forever,” he said.
RingCube’s vDesk 2.0 is available immediately, staring at $200 per user. RingCube also will be showcasing the new offering at the Citrix Synergy show May 5-6 in Las Vegas.
RingCube Technologies is rolling out the next generation of its vDesk desktop virtualization technology, including a new feature designed to improve the manageability and security around the offering.
RingCube’s vDesk 2.0, announced May 1, includes the company’s WVE (Workspace Virtualization Engine), which company officials say is a key differentiator in a highly competitive field that includes such companies as VMware and Citrix Systems.
It also comes the same week that Quest Software, at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas, announced it was integrating its Quest vWorkspace virtual desktop management offering with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Microsoft App-V (Application Virtualization) technology.
Doug Dooley, vice president of product management at RingCube, said the company is looking to separate itself from other vendors in the desktop virtualization space by coming out with solutions that don’t require a lot of upfront costs or require a lot of duplicate Windows licenses.
VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) solutions require high upfront costs—sometimes in the millions of dollars—and they bring with them more storage and power and cooling expenses, Dooley said. By comparison, a vDesk solution for 2,500 users runs around $500,000, he said.Resource Library:
In addition, mobility is an issue with VDI, Dooley said.
An eWEEK Labs analyst says there's no need to rush into VDI.
RingCube’s vDesk offering is designed to enable enterprise users to put the technology on their work PCs or on unmanaged systems, such as their home computers. When they turn on vDesk, it gives them a personalized virtual workspace, complete with their own settings, files, applications and desktop, Dooley said. The company’s MobileSync technology then lets users synchronize their vDesk workspace between PCs, USB drives or other portable media, a network file share or VDI environments.
RingCube’s WVE in vDesk 2.0 offers what Dooley called a lightweight virtual desktop, with an isolated network stack and support for such applications as endpoint security, databases and PC management software, which require drivers and security services.
Among the components of WVE are vDeskNet, which enables virtual networking by separating and isolating network traffic from the host PC, and virtual user management, which gives the virtual workspace a unique set of user accounts separate from the host PC.
The Virtual Security Store offers a separate storage area within the virtual workspace for such items as certificates, and Virtual Windows Services offer improve application isolation from the host machine.
Other security and isolation controls in vDesk 2.0 come through virtual workspace encryption though integration with third-party software, as well as a virtual networking stack that isolates all network traffic inside the virtual workspace from the host system.
The goal is to give users an easier and more secure way to run a virtual desktop environment, Dooley said.
“This thing is not the hardest thing to get your arms around as far as deployment is concerned,” he said.
The vDesk solution also offers improved management enabling enterprises to create single workspace, then give employees their own version of that master copy. There is also a more streamlined log-in process.
Dooley said businesses are beginning to take a hard look at desktop virtualization solutions, driving in large part by the need to reduce operating and capital costs and to improve business continuity.
“It’s so early in the [desktop virtualization space],” he said. “We are where we were with server virtualization five years ago.”
Dooley said he expects interest in desktop virtualization to grow, and sees Microsoft’s upcoming introduction of Windows 7 as a driver to get enterprises thinking more about their desktop environments.
“I don’t think people are going to stay on the status quo forever,” he said.
RingCube’s vDesk 2.0 is available immediately, staring at $200 per user. RingCube also will be showcasing the new offering at the Citrix Synergy show May 5-6 in Las Vegas.
Hyperformix Eases Virtualization Capacity Planning
Hyperformix is expanding the capabilities of its Capacity Manager and Data Manager software products to better support virtualized environments. The software offerings are designed to help IT administrators map out the performance and capacity needs of their virtualization initiatives, and also can enable them to better figure out such business problems as server consolidation and application upgrades. The software supports a wide range of virtualization technologies from such vendors as VMware, Microsoft, Citrix, Sun, HP and IBM.
Hyperformix wants to make it easier for businesses to plan out their virtual environments.
Hyperformix is making enhancements to its Capacity Manager and Data Manager offerings that are designed to not only enable enterprises to more effectively map out the performance and capacity needs of their virtualization initiatives, but also to budget for the IT support that will be needed, find ways to reduce costs and extend the value of their current infrastructure.
“Our customers look to us to help them accurately plan and communicate what it will take to support business services in IT, and where cost-saving opportunities exist,” Bruce Milne, vice president of products and marketing for Hyperformix, said in a statement.Resource Library:
Capacity Manager 4.0 and Data Manager 3.1, announced May 5, can automatically identify underutilized virtual machines and systems that can be safely consolidated, according to Hyperformix officials.
The software also offers automated dashboards and reporting capabilities that enable IT administrators to more easily convey complex data to business users and identify cost-saving opportunities through the collection of data on such areas as hardware costs and power consumption.
In addition, the software products support virtualization technology from such vendors as VMware, Microsoft, Citrix Systems, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, as well as modeling hardware, operating systems and other components.
Hyperformix also offers solutions kits designed to help IT administrators and business users figure out such issues as server consolidation and application upgrades.
Hyperformix wants to make it easier for businesses to plan out their virtual environments.
Hyperformix is making enhancements to its Capacity Manager and Data Manager offerings that are designed to not only enable enterprises to more effectively map out the performance and capacity needs of their virtualization initiatives, but also to budget for the IT support that will be needed, find ways to reduce costs and extend the value of their current infrastructure.
“Our customers look to us to help them accurately plan and communicate what it will take to support business services in IT, and where cost-saving opportunities exist,” Bruce Milne, vice president of products and marketing for Hyperformix, said in a statement.Resource Library:
Capacity Manager 4.0 and Data Manager 3.1, announced May 5, can automatically identify underutilized virtual machines and systems that can be safely consolidated, according to Hyperformix officials.
The software also offers automated dashboards and reporting capabilities that enable IT administrators to more easily convey complex data to business users and identify cost-saving opportunities through the collection of data on such areas as hardware costs and power consumption.
In addition, the software products support virtualization technology from such vendors as VMware, Microsoft, Citrix Systems, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, as well as modeling hardware, operating systems and other components.
Hyperformix also offers solutions kits designed to help IT administrators and business users figure out such issues as server consolidation and application upgrades.
HyTrust Looks to Build Community Around Virtualization
HyTrust, which launched as a company in early April with the Enterprise Edition of its namesake virtualization management appliance, is rolling out a free Community Edition aimed at SMBs. At the same time, HyTrust also is making a push to create a community around its technology to enable information sharing among users and to speed up its own product development. HyTrust’s technology currently manages VMware environments, though support of Xen and Microsoft’s Hyper-V is on the way.
A month after launching the company with a policy-based management appliance for virtualized environments, officials at HyTrust are now looking to build a community among its customers.
HyTrust May 5 announced that it is releasing a free community edition of its namesake appliance, aimed at giving SMBs a cost-effective way to get into virtualization and cloud computing. The HyTrust Appliance Community Edition, which is designed to give users a central control point for managing and monitoring virtualized environments, also is a tool that enterprises can use to get started, according to HyTrust officials.
The free community version offers the same functionality and features as HyTrust’s Enterprise Edition, but with limitations. For example, users can only have three protected hypervisor hosts.Resource Library:
At the same time, HyTrust is kicking off an online community designed to support its vision of a more easily managed virtualized environment, to create a repository that enables users to share information and give feedback to the company, and to help HyTrust direct its R&D efforts.
The Community Edition lets larger enterprises easily evaluate the capabilities of HyTrust’s technology, and give feedback on their findings. In turn, HyTrust will be able to speed up product development and innovations, officials said.
“The potential for the HyTrust Community is unbounded,” HyTrust CEO Eric Chiu said in a statement. “We see this not only as a terrific opportunity for HyTrust to meet currently unmet needs of the market, but also as a great way for HyTrust to harness the powers of distributed peer review.”
The Community Edition is available to members of the HyTrust Community. To join, click here.
HyTrust launched the company April 7 with the Enterprise Edition, which can be bought as a 1U appliance or as software that can run on the customer’s hardware.
HyTrust currently can manage VMware environments, though it will expand its reach to the Xen hypervisor from Citrix Systems later in the year, he said. The company also is working on products to support infrastructures using Microsoft's Hyper-V technology.
A month after launching the company with a policy-based management appliance for virtualized environments, officials at HyTrust are now looking to build a community among its customers.
HyTrust May 5 announced that it is releasing a free community edition of its namesake appliance, aimed at giving SMBs a cost-effective way to get into virtualization and cloud computing. The HyTrust Appliance Community Edition, which is designed to give users a central control point for managing and monitoring virtualized environments, also is a tool that enterprises can use to get started, according to HyTrust officials.
The free community version offers the same functionality and features as HyTrust’s Enterprise Edition, but with limitations. For example, users can only have three protected hypervisor hosts.Resource Library:
At the same time, HyTrust is kicking off an online community designed to support its vision of a more easily managed virtualized environment, to create a repository that enables users to share information and give feedback to the company, and to help HyTrust direct its R&D efforts.
The Community Edition lets larger enterprises easily evaluate the capabilities of HyTrust’s technology, and give feedback on their findings. In turn, HyTrust will be able to speed up product development and innovations, officials said.
“The potential for the HyTrust Community is unbounded,” HyTrust CEO Eric Chiu said in a statement. “We see this not only as a terrific opportunity for HyTrust to meet currently unmet needs of the market, but also as a great way for HyTrust to harness the powers of distributed peer review.”
The Community Edition is available to members of the HyTrust Community. To join, click here.
HyTrust launched the company April 7 with the Enterprise Edition, which can be bought as a 1U appliance or as software that can run on the customer’s hardware.
HyTrust currently can manage VMware environments, though it will expand its reach to the Xen hypervisor from Citrix Systems later in the year, he said. The company also is working on products to support infrastructures using Microsoft's Hyper-V technology.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)