More Blades, More Virtualization

Several server manufacturers recently introduced new version of their blade servers, with more cores and expanded virtualization capability. In other news, Microsoft Corp. expanded its virtualization portfolio with the acquisition of Calista Technologies, Inc.  and the expansion of its partnership with Citrix Systems, Inc.

Focal Points:

• Leading server manufacturers continue to introduce new blade servers that improve on performance, power and cooling characteristics. Dell, Inc. recently rolled out the PowerEdge M10003 rack enclosure. Officials claim it can be put into operation in less than 15 minutes. It is designed to hold 16 half-height quad-core Xeon or Opteron blades. IBM Corp. has announced the JS22 Express, a Power6 blade that uses Advanced Power Virtualization, hosting up to 10 virtual servers per core. Officials from Intel Corp. have announced the Clear Bay platform, which has the capability of six two-way server nodes and integrates SAN connectivity.
• Officials from Microsoft announced that they had purchased Calista Technologies. In addition, officials said they had expanded the Microsoft alliance with Citrix Systems. Calista Technologies has software that adds to Microsoft’s virtualization capabilities by helping to run virtualized desktops that can run from a remote computer. Citrix and Microsoft are working together to make it easier for Windows Server 2008 to work with Citrix’s XenServer.
• Officials from VMware, Inc., a subsidiary of EMC Corp., announced that they were acquiring Thinstall, a technology company that specializes in application virtualization. This technology allows non-compatible applications to be run on the same systems, as well as providing isolation to protect the application from the operating system and vice versa. Thinstall is able to run without the use of a client-side agent, or the need to load virtualized applications from servers.

Experton Group believes virtualization will grow in the enterprise, but is likely to grow for the next 18 months under virtualization "silos" as opposed to being integrated as part of a higher level service-oriented architecture strategy. More maturity needs to be built into enterprise management platforms to allow better integration between infrastructure components, so that all resources can be collected and changed as needed to future dynamic SOA requirements. IT executives should develop an SOA strategy and information architecture that helps align the various virtualization components to best support it.