Virtualization

Two developers make the most out of the VMware ecosystem

I’m not at VMworld this week, but it seems like everyone else is, including Microsoft. So it’s not surprising to me that some of the channel news that I’ve come across in the past couple of weeks is very much tied to activity at the conference. This post is about two of the vendors seeking to coat-tail themselves on the success of the VMware channel.

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Still waiting for the Microsoft vision

A former colleague, who has worked the tech beat for more than 20 years, had some interesting thoughts the other night on the new-look Microsoft under chief software architect Ray Ozzie.

His rant went something along the lines of: “Geez, [expletive deleted] where’s this vision we hear so much about? What’s the next big thing? All we’ve seen is me-too stuff about the cloud. What’s beyond the cloud? What’s next?”

There was a gut instinct to defend Ozzie, home-town and Lotus Notes hero. After all, it’s hard to blaze a trail into the future while protecting a huge installed base of products, customers and partners. 

But then again, the rant rings true.

In tech everyone gets caught up in the latest thing–to such an extent that they may ignore or miss something truly exciting. Obviously, Microsoft can’t avoid the cloud, but is its Google fixation blinding it to other opportunities?

Microsoft has always played catchup to early innovators–to Apple, to Lotus, to WordPerfect, to NetScape, to Apple again, now to Google. As a current colleague said in Microsoft’s defense: “At least they’re playing catchup now on cool, cloud stuff.”

But when it was chasing NetScape Navigator, that was cool stuff. Ditto the Mac OS. Ditto iPhone.

Is that good enough for this self-proclaimed innovator?

What do you think? Send email to: Barbara Darrow.

Top five channel hot spots

There’s nothing like a channel advisory board call to recharge the batteries.

Here are the top five takeaways from SearchITChannel.com’s quarterly call earlier this week:

First: It’s probably a no-brainer, but solution providers expect a big hardware refresh to accompany the Windows 7 launch this fall and hope to bundle an array of services around that upgrade binge.

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McKinsey report brings cloud concept down to earth

The goodly researchers at McKinsey & Co. have released an analysis of the business benefits of cloud computing and have found the concept wanting for larger companies. Its findings, in a report called “Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing,” were presented at the Uptime Institute’s Lean, Clean & Green IT Symposium held in New York.

McKinsey had several recommendations for CIOs and IT executives who are puzzling about what to do with cloud computing. More than anything else, the report suggests, that instead of being distracted by building out internal clouds, IT leaders should focus on virtualizing server storage, network operations and other components of their existing IT infrastructure.

There are four big hurdles that will make it tough for enterprises to move to cloud computing, according to McKinsey.

1. Cloud computing as currently expressed is not as cost-effective as existing data center strategies.
2. Security and reliability concerns need to be addressed and applications will have to be re-architected to take advantage of the cloud model
3. Quality of service expectations need to be managed.
4. Organizations will need to adapt to a different concept of project priorities.

You can download the presentation about the report at this link and ponder some of the data for yourself, but it will definitely make a great briefing document if you’re trying to figure out how to position cloud services within your business.

Conglomeration conga

Whether Sun and IBM ever actually do tie the knot, the M&A craziness will continue.  It’s interesting to parse reactions to this possible deal. For IT shops, there’s angst because some Sun partisans hate IBM and people with religious devotion to IBM won’t touch Sun. If those two data center giants converge, the fear is less competition and higher prices.

VARs are acutely interested in this because a vendor they may have been selling against may soon magically morph into their vendor.  This raises interesting channel conflict issues. Despite its well-documented troubles, Sun has gotten good reviews for its channel management by a handful of its elite partners. They’re not eager to be thrown into the IBM pot.

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Sorting out Microsoft Online Services licensing

Microsoft spent the better part of last year pushing its Microsoft Online Services to partners, who worried about shrinking margins and fewer services opportunities.

Much of that campaign focused on the customer demand for cloud computing, or Software plus Services, as Microsoft calls it. And that was a very valid point. A lot of businesses would rather let someone else deal with management, support and the other back-end hassles associated with Exchange, SharePoint and other software — especially when the economy is going down the toilet.

But Microsoft neglected to mention the flip side of that coin: Software plus Services adds a whole new layer of licensing options, which are already confusing enough for Microsoft partners.

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Microsoft highlights partners in green IT initiatives

Microsoft partners will play a big part in the company’s green IT initiatives, the company said this morning.

Microsoft held a webcast this morning to talk about its environmental sustainability plans, specifically around green IT and virtualization in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. The company’s plans are two-fold: to reduce the 2% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions that come from software-driven devices, and to use software to cut the other 98%, said Francois Ajenstat, director of environmental sustainability.

“We see a role where software can help us reduce our dependency on energy,” Ajenstat said.

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Suit says former VMware CEO broke securities law

A law firm with a history of suing public companies has set its sights on former VMware CEO Diane Greene.

Holzer Holzer & Fistel, an Atlanta firm, has filed a class-action lawsuit against Greene and CFO Mark Peek. The suit says the two execs broke the law because they didn’t tell shareholders that VMware was facing increased competition, taking a longer time to close deals and signing more customers to short-term contracts. The firm put out a press release last week seeking a lead plaintiff for the suit.

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Tech Data extends data center virtualization play

Hmmmm. First, virtualization management software, now a play in storage virtualization.

Distributor Tech Data has signed up DataCore Software, which provides a series of enterprise applications that can be used to manage and provision storage devices attached to a SAN. So, instead of requiring a one-to-one relationship between servers and different storage devices, virtual disks can be created that serve multiple masters. Tech Data says the DataCore products address the following areas:

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VMware beta features could bring Zune-like embarrassment

VMware isn’t making any new fans with its habit of putting beta features into the final versions of its products.

As you may recall, back in May, virtualization expert Andrew Kutz took VMware to task for hyping Storage VMotion and Virtual Machine High Availability — while at the same time saying they were experimental features that should not be used in production. Now Kutz’s fellow blogger on the Virtualization Pro blog, Eric Siebert, is doing the same.

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