XenSource preaches the joy of platform virtualization
247179
New management, new credo, same old enemy Interop The virtualization hypervisor belongs in server hardware - not in the operating system. So says Xensource, friend and partner of the operating system giants Microsoft, Red Hat and Novell.â¦
310066
XenSource and Virtual Iron, which aim to profit from Xen open-source virtualization software, release free new versions.
611979
(InfoWorld) - In 2006, many enterprise IT groups saw the potential in virtualization, rushed to consolidate servers and subsequently propelledÂ VMwareÂ software to a market-leading spot. As 2007 begins, VMware's prices are under attack, just as more CIOs look to virtualization to control server and storage sprawl and tame data center power costs. For starters, VMware rivals XenSource and Virtual Iron Software have launched new open-source alternatives, undercutting VMware on price. Also, new processors, such as IBM's Power 5 and upcoming Power 6 chips, and new operating systems have virtualization capabilities built in, negating the need for some additional software, says Clay Ryder, president of The Sageza Group. Sun Microsystems' Solaris 10 OS includes a virtualization feature it calls Containers. MicrosoftÂ is expected to release a beta version of Windows Virtual Server in the first quarter of 2007 and ship it a year later. That's good news: As virtualization features become part of the hardware or the OS, software providers will have to offer useful extra features, Ryder says, such as automated new software testing or security patch management. Virtual Iron introduced Version 3.1Â of its virtualization platform in December for a license price of $499 per socket--compared to $2,875 per socket for a comparable VMware license. XenSource also introduced new virtualization products at sub-$1,000 prices. Both XenSource and Virtual Iron build their proprietary products on top of the open-source Xen platform for virtualization hypervisors. (A hypervisor lets a computer run multiple operating systems at once.) VMware's products are not based on open source. Meanwhile, middleware vendor BEA Systems is making its own cost-cutting move. In the first half of 2007,Â BEA plans to releaseÂ WebLogic Server Virtual Edition (WLS-VE), a version of its Java application server that includes Liquid VM--a BEA-specific Java Virtual Machine that lets Java applications run directly on a hypervisor without requiring an operating system to be present. This will let users substantially reduce the amount of computer power, lowering the hardware costs per application, says Guy Churchward, vice president and general manager of the Java Runtime Products Group at BEA Systems. Initially, Liquid VM will work only with VMware's ESX Server hypervisor. Analysts advise CIOs planning for virtualization in 2007 to think strategically, not just tactically. "To really make virtualization work you want to do it so end users access capability, not just specific machines," Ryder says. "That's only going to be possible if you take a strategic approach," he says, noting that virtualization needs to be applied to storage, networking and the introduction of new software, not just servers. Mike Williams, CIO for the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), learned a lesson about thinking strategically when he did a virtualization project in 2006. (The DCMA, a federal Department of Defense agency, places contract managers inside companies fulfilling defense contracts for weapons systems, jets, military equipment and parts.) Williams deployed VMware, reducing the agency's number of servers to 160 from 560 and the number of data centers to three from 17. But that move taxed the WAN when all the network traffic converged on the three data centers. His advice: Optimize the WAN first. Still, Williams likes the results. Before virtualization, DCMA replaced about one-third of its 560 servers annually at a cost of about $2 million, Williams says; virtualization cut that expense to $560,000.
569755
Thin, bony and mean VMworld This piece on VMware's new ESX 3i hypervisor arrives with great sadness. How â we wonder â could our dear readers at VMware, IBM, HP, Dell, Sun Microsystems and others have kept this technology a secret? Why did we get little more than hints here and there?â¦
37792
The LinEx operating system is more than a localized  Debian version; it's an essential part of a much bigger project.
698606
New virtual-machine technology can be used to test software patches and migrate aging Windows NT applications. By John Foley, Paula Rooney, CRN.
300638
SableVM is a robust, extremely portable, efficient, and specifications-compliant Java Virtual Machine that aims to be easy to maintain and to extend. It features a state-of-the-art and efficient interpreter engine. Its source code is very accessible and easy to understand. It also has many robustness features that have been the object of careful design.     SableVM is a clean-room implementation of the publicly available specifications.    In this version, we added an experimental generational garbage collector, we imported a new GNU Classpath snapshot, we added handling of Jar/Zip files on boot classpath, we added user-friendly failure messages for bootstrap problems, we added added a profiling switch, we made sablevm-classpath install its files in standard locations, we made jikes and gcc be less verbose by default, and we made several important bugfixes and improvements.  You can download the SableVM from: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=5523&release_id=281502
601254
Novell and Intel develop software that speeds Xen's ability to run Windows as a virtual machine.
531410
In a move to compete against XenSource and Virtual Iron, VMware on Monday announced a new bundle of virtualization tools for small companies. The new set of tools is designed to provide SMBs using the free VMware Server with an easy and cost-effective way to manage it. For $1,500, SMBs can get a bundle that includes the VMware Server platform with the VirtualCenter management tool.
304098
It's worth checking out open-source alternatives and virtualization that's built into processors and operating systems, analysts advise.
482693
VMware founder wants data center coup USENIX Operating systems aren't so great. They lounge like bloated monarchs on a database server â getting far more credit than they're worth. Clutched in their sausage fingers are the keys to a kingdom far too vast to properly manage.â¦
86942
A GNOME 2 frontend for the Visual Boy Advance emulator.
365002
TechWeb - Look for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 applications to run as a virtualized guest on Longhorn, for starters.
561967
Killing two birds with one stone Hands on Iâve been fascinated by cross-platform programming for more years than I care to remember, and my interest has recently been sharpened by the acquisition of a number of Apple Macs â both Intel and PPC (PowerPC). This article focuses primarily on some technical aspects of Qt, Trolltechâs cross-platform C++ toolkit which, as you may know, is the architectural core behind the KDE desktop on Linux. At the end, I show how easy it is to create a simple application without writing a line of code.â¦
140023
Surprise! The KVM open-source virtualization software is at the foundation of a desktop virtualization software start-up's business.
322433
Microsoft's in an unusual place in the server virtualization market: second. But Thursday's unveiling of a system management platform for virtualized systems could make a difference as the competition heats up.
91248
Bidirectional virtualisation is virtually there The possibilities for recursive virtualisation have just increased, with Novell and Intel announcing that you can now run Windows unmodified on Novell's SUSE Linux, via Xen and an Intel VT-capable processor, while Microsoft says an upcoming service pack will let its Virtual Server run SUSE Linux as a virtualised guest.â¦