July, 2009

VMware: Amazon, Google and Azure aren’t real clouds

VMware is going to be a cloud company. A real cloud company.

That was the message at Thursday’s New England VMware User Group summer meeting in Brunswick, Maine. Mike DiPetrillo, VMware’s global cloud architect, described the one thing that will set VMware apart from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and other cloud providers: interoperability.

“These guys are completely proprietary,” DiPetrillo said, referring to Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft Azure.

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VMware finally warming up to EMC

EMC has owned VMware since 2004, but for the most part, the two companies have continued to operate separately. Very separately.

That may be changing.

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Microsoft releases Hyper-V R2 to manufacturing

Microsoft released Hyper-V R2 to manufacturing today, along with Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.

The release to manufacturing (RTM) means the final code is available for partners to test and install on their hardware. Microsoft will make the software available for evaluation in the first half of August and offer it to customers with Software Assurance in the second half of August, technical product manager Oliver Rist said on the Windows Server Division WebLog.

Microsoft said at last week’s Worldwide Partner Conference that Hyper-V R2 will be generally available in September, and the company is planning a launch event in November.

To be clear, there are two versions of Hyper-V R2: Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, which comes with Windows Server 2008 R2, and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, a free, standalone hypervisor. The free version will still include many of R2’s most sought-after features, including Live Migration.

For more on the new features in Hyper-V R2, check out this podcast with expert Greg Shields, which, completely coincidentally, we just launched today.

Is Microsoft giving up on Windows?

You probably read the above headline and had a question of your own. Something along the lines of, “Colin, what have you been smoking?”

I know, it seems ridonklulous to think that Microsoft would give up on its Windows operating system — a product that dominates its market like few others in IT or any other industry. But in light of Microsoft’s recent Linux outreach, it’s a legitimate question.

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Burton Group: XenServer 5.5 is enterprise-ready

You may remember that back in February, the Burton Group released a hypervisor comparison report. And in that report, the only hypervisor to meet 100% of the firm’s required criteria for enterprise readiness was VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3.5.

(If you don’t remember, you can check out a full recap in our recent list of the top 10 server virtualization news stories of the year so far.)

Anyway, since February — but before we published that list — something changed. Another hypervisor has since met 100% of the Burton Group’s criteria. And that hypervisor is Citrix XenServer 5.5.

Why does VMware care about Virtual Iron customers?

Good news, Virtual Iron customers: In the words of Tom Petty, you don’t have to live like a refugee.

VMware is reaching out to Virtual Iron users, following Oracle’s decision to kill off the Virtual Iron product line last week. (Oracle acquired Virtual Iron in May.) As my colleague Alex Barrett reports today, VMware is offering Virtual Iron customers 40% off the list price of vSphere and vCenter.

The offer is an apparent attempt to keep Virtual Iron’s customers from moving to Oracle VM (which is what Oracle wants them to do). But that raises the question: Why does VMware care?

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Will Oracle kill Sun virtualization too?

Oracle has stopped selling Virtual Iron products, terminated its Virtual Iron reseller agreements and seen the departures of two top Virtual Iron execs.

We still don’t know what Oracle’s plans are for the Virtual Iron technology it acquired in May, but in light of these developments, a much bigger question is arising about a much bigger acquisition: Will Oracle kill off Sun Microsystems’ virtualization line too?

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