virtualization.info Editors

Quoting from the Microsoft official announcement:

Microsoft Corp. today announced it has completed the acquisition of Softricity Inc., a leading provider of application virtualization and dynamic streaming technologies.
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With the closing of this acquisition, Softricity becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, and integration of Softricity’s technologies into the Microsoft software delivery and engineering processes begins. Microsoft will soon make available the SoftGrid® application virtualization platform at a reduced price in the streamlined form of two core offerings: SoftGrid for Desktops and SoftGrid for Terminal Services. Both products will include the Softricity ZeroTouch™ Web-based access and self-service portal functionality.

In addition, Microsoft’s Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 customers will be able to acquire Softricity’s SMS connector as a free download. Support for existing Softricity customers will continue uninterrupted via existing sales and services teams and partners. Microsoft will provide additional details on the delivery of Softricity offerings that support Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” at a later date.

It seems Microsoft is going to apply a price to application virtualization and streaming like it did with server virtualization after Connectix acqusition. Now customers have to expect a new VMware (maybe Altiris) to impose on the market and drive the software giant to offer the technology for free.

I personally believe application streaming could fit the new Microsoft Live strategy, permitting customers to choose how to work with Live applications: less features with browser delivery, full package with application streaming delivery.
Is the new application name going to be something like LiveGrid?

Quoting from the Novell official announcement:

Novell today announced the worldwide availability of SUSE® Linux Enterprise 10, the next-generation platform for the open enterprise. SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 from Novell® includes SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, providing a secure and reliable foundation for enterprise computing from the desktop to the data center
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“We also look forward to showing the world the capabilities of SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 in August at LinuxWorld, as we address the pressing needs of today’s IT executives by being first to deliver fully supported Linux innovations such as Xen virtualization, exceptional performance and scalability, application-level security, and improved desktop usability.”
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With SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, Novell has greatly simplified pricing for enterprise customers. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscriptions are now available in two forms – for either mainframe or non-mainframe servers. In addition, customers can choose basic, standard or priority support. Subscriptions start at $349 per server, and there is no additional cost for virtual server images.

It seems Novell preferred to not put too much emphasis on Xen inclusion. Possibly because with this first release they just support their own OS inside Xen domains.

Download it here.

The virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Roadmap has been updated accordingly.

Kuniyasu Suzaki released a new version of its Xenoppix live CD project:

Xenoppix (Xen3.0.2 + KNOPPIX 5.0.1) CD is released. It uses isolinux + mbootpack instead of GRUB, because the combination expands bootable machines. It enables Xen to boot on EFI (iMac CoreDuo). LCAT (Live CD Acceleration Toolkit) is applied to make fast boot. It was effective on Dom0, DomU and HVM.

Read the complete announcement here. Download it here.

TextDrive seems to be the first company (advice if I’m wrong) to offer hosting on Sun OS partitioning technology: Solaris Containers (betterr known as Zones):

TextDrive’s On-Demand Container Hosting combines premium quality Sun hardware with the performance of Open Solaris and the flexibility of zone containers. You get root access to your own Container, guaranteed system resources, a fully maintained operating system and packages highly optimized for the platform.
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We use Sun Fire servers with multiple AMD Opteron 285 (2.6 Ghz) dual core chips, and 4GB of RAM per core. The Opteron 285 is AMD’s fastest dual core chip. Each server has network interfaces dedicated to public, private and storage interconnects (see here) and are attached to network switches dedicated to each of those functions. Each server has a series of mirror pairs of ZFS-based storage accessed over the network. This ensures that your data is always consistent and always available…

With ZFS availability it seems a very interesting offering. Check yourself here.

Thanks to Hack the Planet for the news.

Quoting from the ZDNet:

Initially, Novell will support only SLES 10 in Xen virtual machines. The operating system includes a Yast management module that enables people to launch, kill or reconfigure different virtual machines.
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IBM is supporting use of Xen on its System X line of x86 servers, said Dan Frye, the vice president of open systems development who oversees Big Blue’s Linux Technology Center. The company has worked hard to improve Xen, which plays to IBM’s strength in selling powerful servers juggling multiple tasks.

Xen will be remain in the prototype stage at customer sites for about the next year, and early adopters should start using it the year after that, Fry predicted. That means Novell’s half-year lead over Red Hat likely won’t give it a major benefit.

“I don’t think it’s a significant advantage,” Frye said.

Xen will be updated significantly with the Service Pack 1 (SP1) for SLES, expected in late 2006 SP1. That version will officially support Windows, SLED 10 and SLES 9, Novell said…

Read the whole article at source.

Quoting from the IBM official announcement:

Building upon the company’s commitment to providing clients open solutions based on Linux and virtualization technologies, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced its extensive portfolio of middleware and systems platforms will support Novell’s new SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 offerings. The new SUSE Linux Enterprise offerings incorporate the open source Xen™ virtualization software to help businesses increase server utilization and lower management costs.

IBM will support Xen technology as part of the Virtualization Engine portfolio on the company’s Intel and Opteron processor based server and IBM BladeCenter systems…

Quoting from the Egenera official announcement:

Egenera Inc., a leader in datacenter virtualization architecture, today announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the Top 100 Private Company award winners. Egenera was selected by the AlwaysOn editorial panel based on a set of five criteria – technology innovation, market potential, customer adoption, media buzz and investor value creation.
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The AO100 was selected from over 1,000 companies, peer-nominated by leading venture capitalists, investment bankers and industry analysts. The AO100 consists of private companies at all stages of development, from early- to late-stage…

Quoting from the Computer Lab official announcement:

Computer Lab International, Inc. (CLI), a leading provider of thin client and text terminal products, announced today that it is partnering with VMware, the global leader in virtualization software for industry-standard systems, to accelerate the development and adoption of desktop virtualization by joining VMware’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Alliance.
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As part of the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Alliance, CLI plans to collaborate with VMware to create, test and integrate joint desktop hosting offerings based on VMware virtual infrastructure and CLI thin clients…

From the Juice community site Altiris announces the release of its first SDK for Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) 2.0, the first application virtualization solution free for personal use:

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The SVS SDK provides API level access to the full SVS system. This API is used internally by the product team and has also been used by several third parties. The SDK contains C header files, a lib file, full documentation, and sample code.

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You’ll notice that the SDK license prohibits redistribution of derivative works. That means you can freely use what you write inside your organization, but can’t give it to anyone externally…

Read the whole announcement at source.

Quoting from the EMC official announcement:

EMC Corporation, the world leader in information management and storage, today reported full financial results for the second quarter of 2006. The company’s 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth was highlighted by increased demand for VMware virtual infrastructure software and EMC Documentum content management software.
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VMware had a record quarter, our content management software business again delivered very strong double-digit growth, and license revenues from EMC Smarts software nearly doubled.
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VMware, an independent EMC subsidiary, grew total revenues 73% year-over-year to $157 million, its highest growth rate in five quarters…