VMworld 2009

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.

VMware View demo bombs on poor bandwidth

SAN FRANCISCO — I attended a session at VMworld 2009 today demonstrating VMware View and its cost saving value to the enterprise, but the only thing it really proved was how important proper bandwidth is for desktop virtualization.

The session, called “VMware View – Evangelizing the Value Proposition,” was a hands-on workshop using 46 Wyse thin client desktops running VMware View. The point of the session was to let attendees run the Web-based VMware TCO/ROI Calculator using VMware View, so we could see how much money desktop virtualization can save while experiencing VMware View at the same time.

Unfortunately, the bandwidth in that room was less than adequate, and thus, so was the performance. For instance, the TCO/ROI calculator prompts for your company name, type, location, etc. After entering the data, the system took a minute or more to process it, and moving from one page to the next was agonizingly slow. Not good.

As we all sat waiting for our systems to process simple requests, the poor session host, VMware’s Director of Enterprise Marketing, Bob Stephens, had to present on the benefits of desktop virtualization, such as reduced administration costs, better security, easier management and higher availability than traditional PCs. Stephens reiterated that the bandwidth in the room was “horrible” and said the performance was not indicative of what VMware View is actually like.

Later on I chatted with David Bieneman, the CEO and Founder of Liquidware Labs, which offers desktop virtualization diagnostic tools. I told him about the snafu during that session, and he said a safe bet for bandwidth is 200 kbits per user and under 200 milliseconds of latency. The sad performance could also have been due to a bandwidth connection issue to or from VMware’s ROI/CTO Calculator Tool server, he said.

Unfortunately, the session was full of potential customers who now have a bad taste in their mouth about desktop virtualization. By a show of hands, all the attendees in the room said they use VMware, but only one or two use desktop virtualization already. The IT administrator from a University sitting beside me wasn’t using desktop virtualization, and was less than impressed with what he saw. From what I could tell, other attendees felt the same way.

The takeaway here is that if you don’t have the right networking infrastructure for virtualized desktops, your end users will notice a difference, and they will complain. What’s worse, the time they spend waiting for their systems to respond translates into lower productivity, and it takes away from the savings you could gain in other areas.

Microsoft pushes on despite Hyper-V ban at VMworld

VMware’s clause against competitive products at VMworld 2009 annoyed the hell out of Microsoft, and the company doesn’t intend to sit idly by as thousands of potential Hyper-V users convene in San Francisco next week.

Sure, they will follow the show rules; Microsoft Corp. will have a 10-by-10 booth on the show floor and they won’t demonstrate the new features and capabilities in Hyper-V, which will be available in Windows Server 2008 R2 in October. But will they talk to attendees about Hyper-V and undermine VMware’s Stalin-esque policy of keeping the opposition out? You bet.

“When we saw the clause we called [VMware] to check on what we could do. We are only allowed to show products that complement VMware, so we won’t be doing any product demos,” said David Greschler, director of virtualization and management marketing. “But we will be there at the sessions at VMworld and we will be twittering (@MS_Virt) during the show, which is no longer an industry show. It is a VMware show.”

At VMworld 2008 in Las Vegas, Microsoft did some guerrilla marketing to promote Hyper-V 1.0 by handing out poker chips with negative messages about VMware. I’m sure we’ll see more of the same at the Moscone Center next week.

In fact, Microsoft has already started. On Thursday, the company put out a press release listing more than a dozen companies that saved over six-figures by moving from VMware to Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and other Microsoft virtualization products.

Microsoft’s cost savings case studies will probably catch some attention, especially in a poor economy. But VMware has about a 10-year head start in the virtualization market and companies that invested in VMware won’t abandon that investment.

Knowing that, Microsoft included in Windows Server 2008 R2 Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager the ability to manage VMware ESX, VSphere and Hyper-V - eliminating a big reason VMware users might not try Hyper-V.

Microsoft is also playing the “easy” card. Greschler said adding VMware onto a Windows Server system, which already has Hyper-V built in, “is like having a car with GPS in it, but going out and buying a separate GPS system, and having to learn about that separate system. Hyper-V doesn’t require a separate layer.”

But whether the next version of Hyper-V with live migration and its other management features will be good enough to wow VMware users remains to be seen. At the very least, VMware customers will have another option, and will be able to use Hyper-V as leverage when negotiating prices with VMware.

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:

Red Hat turning VMworld into KVMworld?

VMworld 2009 is still two months away, but at least one virtualization competitor is already planning to steal some thunder at the show.

The Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) suite will hit general availability Sept. 1, according to LeMagIT — which, for those of you who don’t parlez francais, means “The IT Mag.” Sept. 1 is the first full day of VMworld 2009, when VMware typically makes most of its major announcements.

RHEV marks a shift from Xen to KVM as Red Hat’s open source virtualization technology of choice, as senior virtualization director Navin Thadani said on last week’s edition of This Week in Virtualization.

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