Vamping Virtualization

Storage managers may be dipping a toe in the waters of virtualization, but their suppliers are already submerged. Judging by recent market activity, the V word is top of mind when it comes to future products.

There's evidence everywhere. In today's announcements alone, there's word of two solutions that at least superficially compete with VMware, the current virtualization market leader. These include a joint server solution planned by VAR/integrator Appro and operating system vendor SWsoft, and CommVault's QiNetix data management software ported to Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2. (See CommVault Integrates QiNetix and Appro, SWsoft Partner.)

Meanwhile, VMware itself continues to build its palpable momentum. (See EMC Nets nLayers, Scopes Security.) In this vein, the IT world is waking up to the fact that EMC's VMware quietly bought a small startup named Akimbi Systems last week for an undisclosed amount. (See VMware Acquires Akimbi.) This San Mateo, Calif., company, founded in 2004 by James Phillips (ex-Actional, Ensim, Intel) and Xun Wilson Huang (ex-Ensim), specializes in software that manages the virtual machines created by VMware and Microsoft virtualization. Competition includes the likes of Surgient.

It seems VMware is primarily interested in using Akimbi's products for software development, for which teams require lots of configurable virtual test environments. Many IT shops support their own software development labs to test out applications, so VMware's getting more deeply involved in an area where there's immediate benefit from virtualization.

Akimbi's product, dubbed Slingshot, will be incorporated wholesale into a new VMware offering slated for beta testing in the third quarter 2006. Akimbi got $8 million in Series D funding in November 2005 from Mayfield, Hummer Winblad, and Partech. It counts Intel, Juniper, RSA, Symantec, Coldwater Creek, and more than 20 others as customers, including two recent wins in the U.K. and Australia.The acquisition highlights the priority EMC puts on virtualization. It fits right into EMC's stated strategy to move itself aggressively beyond mere storage with a wave of M&A. Only security came ahead of virtualization in the list of sought-after technologies cited earlier this month by CEO Joe Tucci. (See EMC Nets nLayers, Scopes Security.)

"These guys [at EMC] have got a vision that's broader than what they currently do," says analyst Steve Berg of Punk Ziegel. It doesn't surprise him to see EMC gobbling small fry to get the job done, and he expects more.

EMC's interest in virtualization testifies to the interest the technology has beyond servers, even though servers are the primary focal point these days. Indeed, virtualization is recognized as a "must have" for storage developers in a range of firms. The idea is that virtualization can be used to accelerate the value of the IT infrastructure in general including storage.

In an interview with Byte and Switch earlier this month, Anupam Bhide, CEO of Calsoft, an Indian development firm specializing in storage, said virtualization tops the list of projects for which companies have enlisted his team's help in the last year. "We're seeing the growth of companies looking to be VMware competitors," he told us.

Bhide also noted that Microsoft and its supporters envision Windows as a key platform for virtualization. This has been evident in Microsoft's recent purchase of Softricity and its own push in the virtualization space. (See VMware Eyes Enterprise, Microsoft and Microsoft Makes Virtualization Play.)All this points clearly to the ongoing development of virtualization as an underlying technology for data center use. So whether you're into virtualization at the moment or not, it may be time to think about what you'd like to do with it. Someone else will be filling you in soon enough.

— Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch

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