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Building Virtual Empires: Page 3 of 5

This “aggregation virtualization” theme is in full swing across all sectors of the data center. Network elements, given their strategic positions in the data path, can have a tremendous opportunity in this regard. Examples include Acopia Networks in NAS virtualization and Topspin Communications Inc. in server virtualization. Such in-line virtualization nodes leverage the visibility and scaleability of a wirespeed datapath device, and minimize host-side deployment complexity and server overhead. When done right, they can prove extremely valuable. Cisco has been surprisingly silent on this topic to date, allowing a handful of startups to seize leadership and early market share.

The wheel turns full circle when one considers that the major application architectures of tomorrow are already based on virtual machines. J2EE and .NET are of course the leading examples (with vendor-specific constructs like SAP AG's (NYSE/Frankfurt: SAP) ABAP/Netweaver also on the list). These programming architectures are already built upon a standard abstraction layer. Convergence at the virtual machine presents the opportunity to both partition and aggregate at the same time by offloading the virtual machine processing to a scaleable shared resource that can also offer fine-grained control to its individual tasks.

Azul Systems is an example of a company taking such an approach. The Azul game plan -- delivering optimized infrastructure for an ascendant abstraction layer -- is one that can be executed in adjacent sectors as well. Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) did a similar thing in support of Network File System (NFS), a famous successful example. We expect analogous approaches to yield future market leaders in other parts of the “virtualized data center.”

The concept of aggregation leads us into a Wild West of "marketectures" where buzzwords collide: grid, utility, autonomic, on-demand, Linux, blades, multi-core, and multi-thread. The disruptive effects ripple up and down the stack, from silicon to systems, from management to the applications themselves.

Perhaps one of the most important (though least appreciated at the time) watershed events was Intel’s announcement last spring of the cancellation of the Tejas processor project. In truth, Tejas’s demise was really an artifact of a prior failure on another central processing unit (CPU) project known as Prescott. Both were a function of the difficulty of perpetually scaling the clockspeed of the Intel architecture. In the aftermath, Intel, along with Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) and the rest of the industry, has embarked down the multi-core/multi-threaded path. With clockspeed now taking a backseat, the key initiatives in processor development increasingly revolve around new architectural features that are well suited to the aggregated/virtualized computing schemes of the future. Expect more such 90-degree turns in the other major IT ecosystems.