Year: 2015

Oracle has released version 5.0 of its type-2 virtualization platform VM VirtualBox. Starting with a public beta in April this year and some more test builds and a release candidate later the product is now released. Oracle also already released an update (version 5.0.2.) containing some fixes for version 5.0 already.

There are known problems with VirtualBox 5.0.2 on Windows 10 hosts and with Windows 10 guests. Some of the problems are fixed in the most recent test build which can be found here.

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We quoted several times Virtualization Matrix, the website created to compare the capabilities of the various virtualization platforms on the market such VMware, Microsoft and Citrix.

This idea sparked community interest and a new project was spawned: a multi-comparison and interactive evaluation platform named WhatMatrix.

WhatMatrix allows visitors not only to compare features of different products in many technology fields, it also offers the ability to enrich products “scorecards” by adding complimentary products to a “stack”.

This feature is useful to both users, who can look at the products following a gap-analysis logic, and vendors which can show the value of their products.

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Microsoft has released version 4.0. of its Integration Services for Linux. Hyper-V supports both emulated (“legacy”) and Hyper-V-specific (“synthetic”) devices for Linux virtual machines. When a Linux virtual machine is running with emulated devices, no additional software is required to be installed. However, emulated devices do not provide high performance and cannot leverage the rich virtual machine management infrastructure that the Hyper-V technology offers.

Many Linux distributions and versions have Linux Integration Services built-in and do not require installation of this separate LIS package from Microsoft. This LIS package is available for a subset of supported distributions in order to provide the best performance and fullest use of Hyper-V features. It can be installed in the listed distribution versions that do not already have LIS built, and can be installed as an upgrade in listed distribution versions that already have LIS built-in.

The Linux Integration Services (LIS) is supported on the following guest operating systems:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5-5.11 32-bit, 32-bit PAE, and 64-bit
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0-6.7 32-bit and 64-bit
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0-7.1 64-bit
• CentOS 5.5-5.11 32-bit, 32-bit PAE, and 64-bit
• CentOS 6.0-6.7 32-bit and 64-bit
• CentOS 7.0-7.1 64-bit
• Oracle Linux 6.4-6.7 with Red Hat Compatible Kernel 32-bit and 64-bit
• Oracle Linux 7.0-7.1 with Red Hat Compatible Kernel 64-bit

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Microsoft has released version 2015 of its Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), which is available as a paid add-on for Microsoft Customers with Software Assurance. In the 2015 release, the products included are updated for Windows 10 among others.

The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack contains the following technologies:

• User Experience Virtualization (UE-V)
• Application Virtualization (App-V)
• Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)
• Microsoft Bitlocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM)
• Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM)
• Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT)

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Microsoft has released version 2013 Update 1 of its Deployment Toolkit. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) is a toolset for automating desktop and server operating system deployments. MDT 2013 Update 1 supports deployment of the following operating systems: Windows 10 , Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server Tech Preview.

New functionality provided:

• Support for the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 10
• Support for deployment and upgrade of Windows 10
• Support for integration with System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1 with the Windows 10 ADK

On August 5, Parallels announced that it has released an update to Parallels Access app for remote access. The American virtualization technology company has added file sharing support to its remote desktop for PCs and Macs, with both iOS and Android platform, the update allows users to share large files without the need of a cloud service and managing everything directly from the desktop agent, furthermore with this version 3.0 it has also introduced support to the Apple Watch with an app allowing its users to have remote connection from the wrist device.

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On July 28 Citrix disclosed that Mark Templeton, the company CEO, has plans to retire after over 20 years of service, an unexpected news that drew attention on the next future of the American company.

In his career in Citrix, Mark Templeton has been in charge as President and Chief Executive Officer since 2001. Templeton joined Citrix in 1995 as Vice President of Marketing, he was appointed president in 1998, while leading Citrix he managed to transform the company to become a “software-defined vendor” pushing forward virtualization, mobility management, networking and SaaS solutions.

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Citrix announced its financial results for second quarter 2015.

The revenues for the second quarter were $797 million for an increase of 2% compared to Q2 2014.

Net income was $103 million and non-GAAP operating income was $163 million, an increase compared to $142 million for Q2 2014.

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VMware released the results about its results for Q2 2015.

VMware, announced a GAAP total revenue growth of $1.52 billion, for an increase of 4 percent compared to Q2 2014. License revenues were $638 million, with an increase of 4% from same quarter last year.

GAAP Operating income for the second quarter was $206 million, an increase of 3% from the second quarter of 2014.

The non-GAAP total revenues registered an increment of 10% from Q2 2014, with an income of $1.60 billion or up 13% year-over-year in constant currency.

Operating cash flows were $316 million for the second quarter of 2015.

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Gartner released its Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure for year 2015, once more positioning VMware and Microsoft in the leaders Quadrant.

No surprises in the leaders quadrant, as well as the other vendors appearing in the MQ. The only noticeable changes come after Parallels split into two distinct brands, Parallels and Odin focused on service providers, for hosting and cloud automation, Web management and cloud infrastructure.

The Magic Quadrant has been written by Gartner Analysts: Thomas J. Bittman, Philip Dawson, Michael Warrilow.

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