At the recent Structure 2010 “Year of the Cloud” conference, Amazon.com CTO Werner Vogels railed against “the false cloud”–the idea that cloud computing can be done internally, within an enterprise. The “true cloud” in this worldview can only be realized using the facilities and resources of network-accessible service provider. Anything else? False. A misappropriation of the cloud name and concept–a pretender that cannot deliver the benefits of cloud computing. Oddly, another big theme of the conference was the idea that cloud is not defined[....]
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Tag: virtualization
VMware says that, like its rival Parallels, it has virtualization software that can help ease the transition from Windows XP toWindows 7. While its approach is less comprehensive than Parallels $50 product, VMware’s approach is free, using a combination of VMware Converter and VMware Player, both of which are available from the company’s Web site. VMware’s approach uses Converter to package up and transfer a physical XP desktop into a virtual machine and then allows that XP desktop to run virtually inside the new Windows 7 machine. VMware’s products have been[....]
Virtualization is a major component of cloud computing, but the primary focus has been on virtualized server instances running on cloud providers such as Amazon EC2. There is little argument that applications running in the cloud offer many attractive advantages, but ultimately users need to be able to access their data from any device and the data itself must maintain the highest levels of synchronization and integrity. One of the big challenges is the fact that users are comfortable with fat applications (generally meaning, not browser-based) for a large number of tasks. And while Google[....]
Parallels said it is ready to start selling a program that uses virtualization to help ease the migration toWindows 7 from older versions of the operating system. The company's $50 software uses virtualization to help consumers migrate from an older version of Windows to Windows 7. (Credit:Parallels) The company, which is best known for software that lets Windows run on aMac, has been working on a tool to ease the move to Windows 7 from earlier versions of the operating system–a move first reported by CNET. The new software, dubbed Parallels Desktop Upgrade to Windows 7, will be[....]
commentary Once upon a time Red Hat was content to be the enterprise Linux leader and VMware was happy to be the dominant virtual infrastructure vendor. No more. (Credit:Matt Asay and Library of Congress via Flickr) As the two companies have sought growth, they’ve increasingly stepped on each other’s toes, with recent VMware marketing taking strong swipes at its erstwhile partner, Red Hat, highlighting Pizza Hut as a high-profile customer defection from Red Hat to VMware. Can’t the two companies just get along? Probably not. Back in 2006, Red Hat and VMware announced an[....]
Parallels, the company best known for a product that lets Apple users run Windows side by side with Mac OS X, thinks it has found another good use for its virtualization technology. The company has quietly been working on a product that uses virtualization to ease the sometimes painful upgrade process going from Windows XP toWindows 7, CNET has learned. The new product, which will work for both those upgrading an existing machine to Windows 7 or those buying a new PC, uses virtualization to ensure that older programs can smoothly run on the new operating system. The product is expected to[....]
Parallels is indeed coming out with a product that uses virtualization to help ease the transition toWindows 7. The software, the existence of which was first reported by CNET on Wednesday, takes one’s files and programs from a Windows XP or Vista PC and packages them up to be used on either a new PC or an existing one upgraded to Windows 7. If the programs are not compatible with Windows 7, Parallels uses its virtualization technology to allow the applications to run in the newer operating system. Parallels Desktop Upgrade to Windows 7, as the product will be called, will go on sale[....]
“Cloud computing” is so overused and overhyped that it doesn’t really mean anything anymore. It’s has become kind of a vague “what comes next in IT” label, with no specific meaning, applied indiscriminately to whatever the latest vendor to stop by wants to sell us today. I now hear this complaint with great regularity–but I don’t entirely agree. Sure, every vendor is eagerly “cloud washing” whatever products or initiatives they have to fit in with the latest buzzhype. And the “cloud” term is thrown around with pretty[....]
Cloud computing has brought many changes to IT operations, and there are new organizations and technologies that operations professionals need to understand to embrace those changes. (Credit:Flickr/John Menard) During a “cloud operations boot camp” prior to the Cloud Connect conference in Santa Clara, Calif., last week, I spoke about theses changes and challenges. If you are interested in reviewing the slides from that presentation, titled “The New DevOps Designers: Cloud and The Big Rethink,” they are available at Slideshare. This is the first of a three-part[....]
NComputing, the virtualization company run by former eMachines CEO Stephen Dukker, is now in the chip game. The company said Friday that its $20 Numo chip will allow a variety of uses, from TVs that can access the Web to the creation of new kinds of terminals for businesses that can remotely access Windows or Linux. NComputing already offers its own line of products that let a single PC or server power multiple computing experiences. The approach has gotten some traction, especially in the cash-strapped education space as well as in emerging markets. With Numo, device makers can add[....]
Although Windows 7′s “XP Mode” has been a welcome feature of the new operating system, there’s been a fair bit of confusion brought on by the virtualization layer’s hardware requirements. To work, XP Mode has required a PC processor that supports hardware virtualization, and that feature had to be turned on in the computer’s BIOS (basic input/output system). Those requirements caused some consternation, as PC owners didn’t always have an easy way to tell if their system fit the bill. Well, those requirements are no more. As part of a wave of[....]
IBM is expected to announce Tuesday its plans to go online with its commercial cloud service for software development and testing, allowing enterprise and government clients to access to IBM cloud services. Testing services are an excellent use-case for cloud services, and a number of start-ups including Sauce Labs and SOASTA have offerings that allow customers to test their applications without having to build a massive test infrastructure. According to IBM Research, the average enterprise IT department devotes up to 50 percent of its entire technology infrastructure to development and[....]
One of the dynamics of the server virtualization marketplace that doesn’t get the attention it probably should is the question of where the hypervisor “lives” and gets delivered to buyers. Services, such as load balancing and replication, that leverage a virtualized foundation to construct what goes by names like Dynamic IT may be ultimately more important than the foundation’s components. However, the choice of hypervisor matters today if only because it serves as a sort of control point for the profitable components above. Hypervisors get delivered in three[....]