Likewise, the streamlined approach offered by the Xen hypervisor may prove to offer better performance than the heavier software solutions from either VMware or Microsoft. The real problem is, it's really too early to tell at this point. Virtual Server 2005 R2 is now in GA, but the upcoming release of Server 2008 and WSv in early 2008 will mean substantial changes for those looking to Microsoft for their virtualization needs. Virtual Iron 3.0 is available now, as are other Xen-based virtualization packages from Red Hat and SUSE, but it's really not about the hypervisor—those will eventually become a commodity item.
Companies looking to adopt a virtualization strategy need to place their primary focus on the management, security, flexibility and stability of their environments. The relative efficiency of the hypervisor is important for sure, but the greatest costs still lie in the management aspect of any production environment.
Clearly, VMware will face stiff market challenges in the future, in part because of the leg up that both Xen and Microsoft will receive from VT-x and AMD-V. Though the company denies it was a response to Xen, VMware released several free virtualization products in 2005: VMware Server, VMware Player and VMTN Virtual Appliance. Its most popular offering, VMWare Infrastructure 3, is a suite of virtualization products that combine ESX Server along with Virtual Center and other select modules. Available in Starter, Standard and Enterprise versions, these services are being economically packaged for the first time, perhaps in an effort to change the perception that VMware is the most expensive route to server virtualization. More importantly, VMware has changed its business strategy to focus more on the entire virtualization challenge rather than purely on the underlying virtualization technology itself.
At the moment, VMware still offers the most experience of any company in virtualization today, and this will be a tough hand to beat when all of the players step up to the table sometime next year.
Bob Friday, Chief AI Officer for Juniper Networks, explains how the advanced technology is transforming operations.
Contact center leaders from 8x8, Awaken Intelligence, and 360insight discuss the importance of agent experience.
AI may force enterprises to rewire parts of their data centers so they are fully optimized to run such workloads. The question is do you use Ethernet or InfiniBand?
