XenSource to embed Symantec Veritas Storage Foundation, to feature host-level HA capabilities

Quoting from the XenSource official announcement:

XenSource, Inc., the leader of the open source Xen virtualization project, and a provider of enterprise virtualization solutions, today announced that it has signed an OEM agreement with Symantec to embed Veritas Storage Foundation, Symantec’s industry-standard storage management software into XenEnterprise, and collaborate on delivering enterprise-class HA/DR and backup technology to XenSource customers.

By working with Symantec, XenSource will enhance XenEnterprise to address key customer needs in three areas:

  • Unified Server and Storage Virtualization
    XenSource will embed Veritas Storage Foundation within XenEnterprise to provide customers seamless storage management for major server and storage array and enable advanced storage functionality, including utilization optimization, dynamic multi-pathing and point-in-time copies.
  • Resiliency and Business Continuity
    XenSource will develop XenEnterprise HighAvailability, a new product which will be tested for certification by both Symantec and XenSource, to provide failover of virtual machines, ensuring business continuity for enterprise applications.
  • Data Protection and Backup
    To provide protection for critical applications running within XenEnterprise virtual servers, Veritas NetBackup will be jointly tested for certification.

Starting as early as this fall, XenSource products will include key storage management products from Symantec, and joint customers will benefit from the ability to leverage the complete, enterprise-class storage stack from Symantec, which will be fully integrated, certified, and supported with XenEnterprise…

After Linux kernel becoming ready for Xen, Veritas Storage Foundation integration is the biggest achievement so far for XenSource.

The next one, the launch of XenSource HA, is expected somewhere in Q4 2007, will be offered as an optional feature (like VMware does) and at a very aggressive price (lower than VMware one).

Update: John Bara, Vice President of Marketing at XenSource, recorded a 5-minutes video to add more details about this agreement and future evolutions.