VMware

Citrix takes to taxis at VMworld 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Much has been made about VMware’s crackdown on competitors at VMworld 2009. Its goal is to keep the focus on VMware and its loyal partners, but really all it does is force the competition to get more creative.

Case in point: Citrix, which has taken its message to the streets. Literally. On taxi cabs.

As you can see, Citrix has taken out taxi-top advertisements here in San Francisco. This one says, “Virtualization: It’s a free world now,” and I saw another this morning that said, “Virtualization: It’s an open world now.”

Sure, ads on cabs aren’t as beneficial as showing off XenServer 5.5 on the VMworld floor would have been. But for Citrix, they’re better than nothing.

Foreigner to play VMworld Party 2009

It’s now less than three weeks away, and I am really getting excited for VMworld 1979.

Oh, I’m sorry. I mean VMworld 2009. You’ll have to excuse my confusion. It’s just that, ever since VMware announced the band playing the VMworld Party, I’ve had a little trouble figuring out what year it is.

If you haven’t heard by now, here’s the band:

That’s right. It’s Foreigner.

After all, there’s no better way to unwind after three days of virtualization than to hold your lighter up in the air and sing along to “I Want to Know What Love Is.” Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

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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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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Know your acronyms!

Next time you tell someone, “I’m a VCP and VMUG member who runs a next-generation COS and uses NPIV to offer a virtual HBA,” it better not be B.S.

Acronym overload is an unfortunate part of life in IT, especially in virtualization. But that doesn’t mean you can toss them around willy-nilly without knowing what they mean.

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VMware: Sorry for the Hyper-V crash video, Microsoft

Much has been made of Microsoft’s regular attacks against VMware, from its “VMware Costs Way Too Much” poker chips to its “Microsoft Mythbusters” video. The folks in Redmond even faced accusations that they were spreading lies about VMware last year.

So why is VMware apologizing to Microsoft?

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Cisco hires Christofer Hoff as virtualization director

Cisco Systems has a new virtualization and cloud computing director: Christofer Hoff, the security and virtualization expert and popular blogger.

Hoff, aka “Beaker,” runs the Rational Survivability blog and has held high-ranking security positions at several IT vendors and other firms — albeit none as big as Cisco. They include Unisys, Crossbeam Systems and the WesCorp federal credit union.

His hiring at Cisco comes as the networking giant is making its move into the virtualization and data center markets with its Unified Computing System.

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Mobile virtualization management: Valuable but not sexy

There’s been a lot of talk about mobile phone virtualization lately, thanks to the VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP) and the Citrix Receiver.

These new products hold a lot of promise. But for now, the best application of mobile phone virtualization is to use mobile devices to manage existing virtual environments. The latest release in this area of the market comes from Hyper9, which yesterday unveiled its Virtualization Mobile Manager (VMM).

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