TechAgility

So it’s worth considering what this news might mean in it’s wider context? As Alessandro quite rightly points out, Quest is almost in stealth mode with regards to it’s Virtualization plays, it is much more widely known for it’s AD Admin tools, etc. - not Virtualization?

When you have a look through the Products and Solutions offered by Quest the main reoccurring theme would appear to be "Management" and the tools to assist Admin’s in Management of the various IT Systems. Provision was effectively working itself up to be a Citrix competitor as a supplier of add-on tools for Terminal Services, so I guess this also falls in to the same category?

So it would seem on the surface of it that Quest does not want to be left behind in the "gold rush" towards Virtualization?  

Quest acquires Provision Networks

Monday, November 12, 2007   |   0 Comments

Quest is the most hidden company in the virtualization market. It acquired two virtualization startups over last few years, Vizioncore and Invirtus, and operates through them to offer a broad range of solutions, complementary to VMware and Microsoft virtualization platforms.

The company doens’t seem ready to leave the stealth mode yet but is surely working to further extend its presence: virtualization.info has just learned that Quest acquired the popular VDI vendor Provision Networks.

At this point is unknown if Quest will maintain Provision Networks as an independent unit or will merge the offering into the Vizioncore one, like it did for Invirtus (Provision Networks already has an OEM agreement in place with Vizioncore so it’s a very likely scenario).

In any case while other vendors are fighting to control hypervisors, Quest is silently building the widest offering of tools for them, aiming at bigger profits. It probably just misses a virtual lab management framework (Surgient and VMLogix are good candidates for this).

Update: virtualization.info has learned that Provision Networks declined other offers from top IT players, both software and hardware, before closing the agreement with Quest. While names are not disclosed it’s worth to remind that Provision Networks already have partnerships in place with IBM and with HP on hardware side, and with Virtual Iron on software side.

virtualization.info: Quest acquires Provision Networks

written by dcaddick

I must confess that I noticed a colleague with a HTC Touch a few weeks back and was instantly drawn to "Touch" it, it wasn’t the actual Touch interface that did it, it was the size and elegance of the design - very sweet, almost like a case of "if Apple did black mobile handsets, this is what it would/should look like"

So I recently made a slight deviation on the way to a Clients just to call in a shop that has the Touch so that I could have another look and feel - and I have to say that my gadget lust has not diminished one bit - the only issue now is that I haven’t had a chance to see the other two flavours in the flesh down here in Australia.

I’m still using my trusty Orange C600 (iMate SP5) that I brought back from the UK and the size and format with just the numeric keypad is very nice and I’m very used to it, so I’m really loath to head off and get the Touch when what I really might find is that I can’t live without the Dual - and now there is the Touch Cruise? When will it ever end…. <sob>  ;-) 

HTC Touch Cruise Announced - Hands on video and pics!
By Gears. Published on 12 Nov 2007.

HTC have just announced the latest addition to their range - the Tom Cruise. Sorry.. HTC Touch Cruise. It’s that HTC Polaris we saw some time back and it looks set to replace the HTC Artemis (T-Mobile MDA Compact III etc).
It comes complete with the enhanced finger-poking HTC TouchFLO technology plus the funky new HTC Album and keyboard additions we saw on the HTC Touch Dual. You also get the HTC Home system with real-time weather, large clock, quick app launcher and access into ringtone settings. Oh, and let’s not forget that this comes with a new-style wheel system and built-in GPS functionality and software to get you from A to B quickly and easily.
The Qualcomm MSM7200 CPU drives Windows Mobile 6 Pro at 400MHz and there’s 256MB ROM/ 128MB RAM. Quad-band 3G / HSPDA connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11 b/g WiFi will keep you online.
Now, as you may have spotted before, we managed to get one of these devices a few weeks back. Read on for exclusive pictures, press release and a hands-on video of the HTC Touch Cruise ! We’ll have a full review up soon, so keep it locked!

CoolSmartPhone.com - HTC Touch Cruise Announced - Hands on video and pics!

written by dcaddick

from virtualization.info:  
Well this clearly looks like it is vindicating some of the comments from Brian Madden’s site that Hypervisors will become a commodity, and what will clearly differentiate will be the Management Tools for Virtual Machines.

Microsoft Hyper-V is the final name for codename Viridian

Monday, November 12, 2007   |   0 Comments

With an unexpected announce Microsoft opens TechEd IT Forum 2007 in Barcellona revealing that final name for codename Virdian will be Hyper-V.

Tentative name used so far, Windows Server Virtualization (WSV) is now definitively dropped.

With the new name Microsoft also reveals that Hyper-V will be released as a stand-alone product as well as a feature for every Windows Server 2008 64bit edition.

Difference between these packages is that Hyper-V stand-alone will load a Windows Server 2008 Core edition into its parent partition, and will be bundled with OEM servers from Dell, HP, IBM and others at the price of $28. Other versions instead will load a fully featured version of the OS.

After several different and confusing messages, now Microsoft finally states that first beta of Hyper-V will be released at the of end of January 2008.

more at source… virtualization.info: Microsoft Hyper-V is the final name for codename Viridian

written by dcaddick

So now Softgrid is to be known as "Application Virtualization", well at least it does follow the recent trend where some of the Vendors are attempting to call their products by a name that actually describes what it does?   

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 is Open for Public Beta

And away we go!!!!! Welcome to ITForum and Welcome to Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Beta!!! The keynote has kicked off with an amazing display of technologies and one that jumped out straight at me was our very own Application Virtualization product!!!!

If you go to connect you can download the open beta of Microsoft update to the SoftGrid product, " Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5" Beta

Please visit the Microsoft Connect site at http://connect.microsoft.com to gain access to the 4.5 Beta. Sign in with your Microsoft Windows Live ID and then click on "Available Connections" in the left pane. You will see "Application Virtualization 4.5 Public Beta" in the list. Click "Apply" to arrive at the Microsoft Application Virtualization welcome page. At this point, click on the "Downloads" link in the left pane and you will see the Public Beta download.

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5
(formerly SoftGrid Application Virtualization)

Microsoft Application Virtualization transforms applications into virtualized, network-available services resulting in dynamic delivery of software that is never installed, minimizes conflicts and reduces costly application compatibility testing. Users and their application environments are no longer machine-specific, and the machines themselves are no longer user-specific, enabling IT to be flexible and responsive to business needs, and significantly reducing the cost of PC management, including application and operating system (OS) migrations.

more at source… The World Simplified is a Virtual World : Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 is Open for Public Beta

written by dcaddick

So What is going on here? now everyone is getting on the Virtual Bandwagon? I also find it interesting to note that VMware’s share price has recently gone off the boil and is now down from around $110 less than a week ago to as low as $76?? and this was after the news from Oracle

Oracle announces its own (Xen-based) hypervisor, breaks VMware idyll

Monday, November 12, 2007   |   0 Comments

By surprise Oracle today announces its own hypervisor based on Xen: Oracle VM.

The new product includes a web management console and will be released for free (with optional support agreements) on November 14.

The move comes completely unexpected for a couple of reasons:

• So far the company was totally reluctant to embrace virtualization, refusing to change its licensing model and support policy
• Until today Oracle had a pretty good relationship with VMware: despite its official position on the technology it never discouraged the VMware salesforce to push Oracle RAC in virtual machines

On one side the announcement and all related documentation reveals how Oracle is just partially changing its position about virtualization. The Oracle VM FAQs report:

How are Oracle products priced and licensed for use with Oracle VM?
There is no change in pricing and licensing of Oracle’s products for use with Oracle VM. Oracle counts and licenses physical processors on which the licensed programs are installed and/or running.

more at source - virtualization.info: Oracle announces its own (Xen-based) hypervisor, breaks VMware idyll

written by dcaddick