Despite the hype, the virtualization scenario in India is laced with implementation challenges and cost pitfalls. Mehak Chawla finds out the causes for reluctant adoption and what needs to be done for virtualization to live up to its image In a newsletter issued by an IT giant for its US customers last week, I stumbled upon the sentence “We think virtualization will be the hottest technology in 2011. It shall be adopted across verticals and […]
virtualization
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The new year is here, and many experts in the SQL Server universe see some big developments ahead. Predictions for the SQL Server market range from fiercer competition for Microsoft in the cloud, as more companies are moving from premises-based servers, to widespread adoption of virtualization technology and the growing popularity of self-service business intelligence (BI) tools. “First and foremost, I think we are going to see continued increase in vendors such as Microsoft, Amazon, […]
When server virtualization was still in its infancy, servers were primarily using block-based SANs for network disk storage, and that was sufficient at the time. Then things began to change. The underlying SAN infrastructure began to feel the strain. SAN has inherent limitations in virtual server environments, while NAS has inherent strengths. Virtual machines (VMs) have dramatically transformed the way IT organizations approach the computing architecture. Initially employed to provide greater efficiency, server virtualization has […]
If the deployment rate of server virtualization continues at 2010’s pace, virtual systems administrators are certainly going to have their hands full this year, many IT industry executives believe. The reason is obvious: As the size and scope of the virtual environment grows, the more complex it becomes and the more difficult to manage and optimize. This situation has made virtual stall a reality, says Bryan Semple, chief marketing officer at VKernel, an early virtualization […]
Now is the time for virtual desktops. There are a lot of people in the industry saying that you should wait. We ask why? There are serious savings in support and energy costs to be garnered along with significant other factors that will increase agility and lower TCO. Don’t wait. If you follow the advice and steps outlined below, and build a solid business case, you will be successful. Virtual desktops are the hottest virtualization […]
The Motorola Atrix smartphone introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the first of what may soon prove to be a broad generation of handsets that can double as a laptop computer. The phone has a hypervisor embedded in it that can receive and run the presentation of a Windows application on a large screen. In that sense Atrix is more than a smartphone. It’s a device intelligent enough to sub as a PC […]
Forbes this week published an interesting article written by Ed Sperling titled “CIOs: Be Careful What You Wish For.” In it, Sperling posits that virtualization will cause a shift for IT leadership from technology to data. He writes: “The virtualization being implemented everywhere will give way to cloud computing, and cloud computing will unclutter technology to the point where the focus will migrate from technology to data.” He goes on to say: “IT is still […]
The research includes predictions for six technologies IT departments should consider in the coming year, including adoption of social media strategies, cloud computing and virtualization, as well as mobile applications and analytics tools. According to a study by IT analytics firm Info-Tech Research Group, 2011 will be the year of mass adoption for technologies the company said businesses have been slow to adopt. The research includes predictions for six technologies IT departments should consider in […]
Being that we’re at the start of a new year and all, I thought I’d launch the 2011 newsletter by sharing predictions from a variety of network and systems management vendor executives. Many, of course, have high expectations regarding the continued maturity of virtualization and cloud computing within the enterprise and, along with that, a better understanding of the management challenges and how to go about addressing those effectively. Srinivas Ramanathan, CEO of performance monitoring […]
2010 was the year “cloud computing” became colloquialized to just “cloud,” and everyone realized “cloud,” “SAAS” and all the other xAAS’s (PAAS, IAAS, DAAS) were all different implementations of the same idea — a set of computing services available online that can expand or contract according to need. Not all the confusion has been cleared up, of course. But seeing specific services offered by Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Citrix, VMware and a host of other companies […]
Cloud computing has been making headlines and generating buzz for the past several years. Companies such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft have all placed big bets on public clouds, while traditional enterprise companies such as IBM, HP and EMC are pushing private clouds. The future may involve more than one cloud model, even for some of the largest and most staid corporations, but being able to juggle the advantages of each while minimizing risks such […]
Four years ago, data center server utilization was just 18 percent. To put it another way, on average 82 percent of the server capacity in major data centers was underutilized. Given all of the emphasis on server virtualization in the last few years, you’d expect utilization to have increased sharply. But it hasn’t. According to Gartner research, overall utilization is still at 18 percent — and utilization of x86 servers is one-third lower at 12 […]
With Thanksgiving and Christmas behind us and the New Year upon us, it is time to take stock and see what changed for desktop virtualization in 2010. One thing is very clear: We have moved from desktop virtualization being ‘about to take off’ to ‘has taken off’ — the evidence for this is pretty clear in the number of licenses sold. With volumes sold in the low millions, desktop virtualization is way beyond the tryout […]
This article is based on the book “Creating the Infrastructure for Cloud Computing: An Essential Handbook for IT Professionals” The virtualization models for clients are, arguably, more diverse than those for servers. For servers there are essentially two, the earlier model of static consolidation and the more recent dynamic model where virtual machines lightly bound to physical hosts can be moved around with relative ease. With virtualized clients there are also two main models, depending […]
Today, service providers and enterprises interested in implementing clouds face the challenge of integrating complex software and hardware components from multiple vendors. The resulting system can end up being expensive to build and hard to operate, minimizing the original motives and benefits of moving to cloud computing. Cloud computing platforms are attractive because they let businesses quickly access hosted private and public resources on-demand without the complexities and time associated with the purchase, installation, configuration […]
When we first heard about cloud computing, public clouds got most of the attention. But as IT managers looked at the security risks of having data outside the corporate firewall, they turned their attention to private clouds, which analysts and various surveys suggest will get more enterprise investment in the next few years. But private clouds have their share of challenges too. There are management issues and operational processes to figure out. And, of course, […]
Cloud computing is coming of age in large enterprises, according to a new study of North American and European IT professionals conducted by Management Insight on behalf of CA Technologies. The group surveyed IT professionals in organizations with 1,000 to 10,000-plus employees, revealing that enterprises are active in the cloud, and their virtualization efforts are contributing to broader interest in cloud computing. The results also indicate a shift toward approaching IT using “cloud thinking,” accelerating […]
In its December 2009 cloud computing security guidance paper, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) focused on adding clarity to what it described as a “complicated landscape, which is often filled with incomplete and oversimplified information.” Indeed, in talking to providers of cloud security services and products it would seem there is an unimaginable range of security concerns, each requiring its own unique solution from yet another solution provider. But beyond the concerns there appears to […]
Cisco announced today the final installment of the Cisco® Connected World Report, an international study about the behavioral trends of workers in accessing information anywhere, with any device, and the ability of information technology (IT) professionals to address their needs. The latest results focus on data center, virtualization, and cloud computing trends, and evolving IT roles, in the context of increasingly mobile and distributed workforces. The study found that global IT professionals are creating new […]
Excellent article on the way forward in cloud computing from here. Probably the biggest inhibitor to adoption is the human factor. Cloud will displace skill sets within the IT organization and force a fusion of functions. We have seen this evolution happen with the adoption of virtualization, and IT organizations will continue to evolve with increased cloud adoption. Cloud computing will eventually just be considered a part of the IT department’s general plans for technological […]
Quick cloud computing stats for a Sunday: – CRN predicts that small business spending on Cloud Computing will hit $100 billion by 2014 – IDC estimates the market for public cloud products and services at $16B in 2010, growing to $56B by 2014 – Gartner estimates the Cloud market at $150B by 2013 while Merrill Lynch has it at 160B by 2011 – A recent survey of 500 IT decision-makers by SandHill found that ~50% […]
Hosted desktop technology is an innovative new method for delivering desktops to end users. Part of the ‘cloud computing’ concept, a hosted desktop looks and acts exactly like a traditional PC, but instead of residing locally, all software and data are housed in the meshDESK state-of-the-art data centers. You simply access your resources with a simple internet connection. Hosted desktops offer numerous advantages in terms of cost savings, security, resilience, flexibility and reduced management. The […]