virtualization.info Editors

On Monday HP announced the decision to split into two different companies, one focused on the PCs and printers business (HP Inc. led by Dion Weisler) and another dedicated to enterprise services, technology consulting and, generally, value-added services (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise led by current CEO Meg Whitman).

This fracture let us return to the image of the “old world” that moves away from the “new world” and not necessarily to give both the best possible opportunities to “rise and shine” alone.

HP Inc. will inherit what is still considered HP’s stronger asset, even if the market is registering an increasing contraction.

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Last Wednesday, virtualization.info reported that Microsoft announced the next version of its Client OS: Windows 10, its Server OS Windows Server and its Management Suite: System Center. Later that day Microsoft released the technical previews including more documentation about what features are added and which features are being removed.

It’s important to note that Microsoft also announced that they will also use an agile method of developing this new version of Windows Server, which means that new functionality can be added, or announced functionality can be changed. As quoted from the blog:

This early access is just one small step we are taking. We are also evolving how we ship our software and service our platform products to keep the software up-to-date. For our datacenter products, there is a duality in what customers want: in some scenarios customers tell us they favor stability and predictability while in other scenarios they want access to the latest and greatest technologies as fast as possible. We’ll have more specifics in the coming months, but you can expect us to deliver the best of both worlds: options for speed and agility, plus options for stability and durability.

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Yesterday, Microsoft announced the new name for its Client Operating System: Windows 10. What was also announced was the upcoming features to be introduced in the next version of Windows Server and System Center. Windows Server 10 will be released in a technical preview for the public today. Also a technical preview of System Center is expected, with the exception of of System Center Configuration Manager for which a technical preview is expected in H1 next year.

For Windows Server Microsoft plans to introduce:

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VMware today announced the release of its type-2 client hypervisor product Workstation (version 11) and Player Pro (version 7). VMware expects to release both products in December this year. Starting with these versions VMware will require users to run the products on 64 bit Operating Systems, abandoning the 32 bit platform

Included in the Workstation 11 update:

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As announced in august, Citrix has now made available version 7.6 of its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) product XenDesktop and desktop and virtualization product XenApp.

Version 7.6 contains the following new features (among others):

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While the fact that Lenovo would take over the x86 Server Business line from IBM isn’t new, today Lenovo announced that a definitive agreement has been made effective October 1st. Lenovo is acquiring System x, BladeCenter and Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems, NeXtScale and iDataPlex servers and associated software, blade networking and maintenance operations. IBM will retain its System z mainframes, Power Systems, Storage Systems, Power-based Flex servers, PureApplication and PureData appliances.

The acquisition will make Lenovo the third-largest player in the $42.1 billion global x86 server market.

IBM has released a paper titled: "IBM Flex System Solution for Microsoft Hyper-V (2-node) Reference Architecture". The paper which contains 50 pages describes a reference architecture for building a 2 node Hyper-V solution using the IBM Flex System Solution.

The design consists of two IBM Flex System x240 compute nodes, which are attached to the IBM System Storage DS3524 Storage controller. The networking design leverages the Flex System EN2092 Ethernet Switches. This fault-tolerant hardware configuration is clustered by using the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 operating system.

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VMware has released a free eBook titled: "Virtualization 2.0 for dummies". The book which contains 88 pages can be downloaded from the VMware website after registration.

The book covers the following topics:

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VMware has released a paper titled:"VMware Virtual SAN Performance with Microsoft SQL Server", the paper which contains 9 pages shows the result of a scalability study running Microsoft SQL Server on VMware Virtual SAN using the DVD store benchmark.

Two cases were examined: (1) The number of nodes in the Virtual SAN cluster were scaled up from 4 to 8. (2) The number of DVD Store instances (virtual machines) per node were scaled up in a Virtual SAN cluster from 1 to 3.

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VMware has released a paper titled: "VMware Horizon 6 Reference Architecture". The paper which contains 53 pages describes a reference architecture for building a VMware Horizon 6 deployment supporting 2,000 till 10,00 users with an existing server and storage infrastructure.

The Horizon 6 reference architecture combines the technologies of standard rack-mount server hardware running on EMC VNX storage, VMware View Accelerator (to accelerate existing SAN), VMware ESXi 5.5, and Horizon 6 to produce a highly efficient, robust, and scalable next-generation virtual workspace deployment.

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