Quest, VMware, Verizon Doin' Business
VMworld, Day 3: It's been a busy show for Quest Software, which recently acquired Vizioncore. The company introduced vFoglight Storage, yet another monitoring product in an ever-increasing market; a licensing agreement with Liquidware Labs for its Stratusphere Fit and UX products; a technology alliance with Virtual Computer for open products; and the release of ThinShell, a "zero cost" Windows application that enables PCs to act as kiosks.
vFoglight Storage is billed as a physical storage monitoring solution that helps admins to get the most out of their virtual infrastructures by realizing more control and visibility over the physical layer. "By providing superior insight beyond the datastore, vFoglight Storage enables users to pinpoint performance, capacity and topology issues; meet SLAs; and achieve performance levels," the company said.
The Liquid Labs agreement allows organizations to conduct comprehensive assessments of the "suitability" of their desktop virtualization environments, while performing ongoing user experience monitoring and reporting for "proactive troubleshooting, improved user experience, and increased uptime."
Quest's technology alliance with Virtual Computer is one component of a new plan to provide open support for distributed desktop virtualization technologies based on client-side hypervisors. Quest says this initiative extends the platform-agnostic approach that the company's vWorkspace brings to the choice of server-side hypervisors, access devices and virtualization platforms to client-side hypervisors. In other words, the company is hedging its bets on type 1 versus type 2 hypervisors by partnering with leading vendors of both.
Quest bills vWorkspace ThinShell as a zero cost app for Windows PCs that enables them to act as kiosks for connecting to virtual desktops and applications through the vWorkspace platform.
Verizon, VMware Team Up
VMworld, Day 3: Also at VMworld, Verizon Business and VMware took the wraps off an enterprise-class hybrid cloud solution that will reportedly allow enterprises to more quickly move their apps to the cloud without compromising on security or performance. The agreement is based on the combination of Verizon's global IP network and VMware vSphere, and its goal is to help remove obstacles to the adoption of cloud computing, which is VMware's mantra. Verizon says the deal also enables the delivery of "IT as a Service," VMware's new philosophy calling for the transformation of IT to a more business-centric approach, focusing on "outcomes such as operational efficiency, competitiveness, and rapid response."
Just to muddy the philosophical waters a little more, it should be noted that the new offering joins Verizon's Computing as a Service (CaaS) portfolio of cloud computing services. CaaS is enabled by VMware's vCloud Datacenter, which allows enterprises to select which apps to move to the cloud, making it possible for them to react more quickly to meet changing business conditions.
"Additionally, with Verizon's new compute service, enterprises utilizing the VMware platform can leverage their existing infrastructure, tool and skill sets without changing their underlying IT setup," the two companies said.
Posted by Bruce Hoard on 09/01/2010 at 12:48 PM