IBM Boasts Strides in Virtualization

IBM has announced several developments in virtualization this week.

The company rolled out a line of products, provided a timeline for upcoming releases and touted a new partnership program Monday.

IBM's Virtualization Engine Family launched a "Ready for Virtualization" program that allows independent software vendors to test and validate solutions of IBM's eServer platforms. The company has posted a guide to its new virtualization technologies on its new "Virtualize Everything" Web page.

IBM Virtualization Engine TS7510 includes an integrated disk and tape solution that can reduce data backup and restoration time while increasing efficiency.

Integrated Virtualization Manager simplifies p5 systems virtualization deployment, with a wizard-driven, browser-based user interface, provides new capabilities for UNIX servers. It enables the creation of MicroPartitions ready for installation of AIX 5L or Linux operating system with three mouse clicks. It is included free with the optional purchase of Advanced POWER Virtualization on IBM's p5 servers. IVM is designed to simplify and speed up setup and configuration of multiple partition environments.By the end of October, IBM Director 5.10 systems management software will be available for download for IBM xSeries and BladeCenter servers. Before the year is through, it will be available for iSeries, pSeries System z9 and zSeries servers. IBM Director is an integrated suite of software management tools providing consistent, single-point control and automation for complex IT environments.

In an industry first, IBM plans to make Director available for monitoring and managing non-IBM, Intel-compatible hardware.

IBM also announced delivery of its latest storage virtualization software, the IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller, Version 3.1, which promises support for up to four times more servers that the previous versions. It is expected to allow clients to manage larger environments. It also includes operating system updates and clustered software support. SAN Volume Controller will allow customers to use the native copy functions of supported disk arrays or use the controller's copy functions.

A new Advanced Cabling Technology family of KVM switches, built with Virtual Media support, will allow remote software installations, upgrades and downloads through Ethernet connections.