December 2014 / January 2015 | Vol. 8 No. 1
VirtualizationReview.com
2015 READERS CHOICE AWARDS
ÌÌÌÌ WINNER ÌÌÌÌ
IT’S THAT TIME OFYEAR! Eggnog, presents and the products you like best.
PLUS
> VIRTUAL PREDICTIONS
> DELL’S VDI STRATEGY
> UNTANGLING VMWARE DRS
VISIT VIRTUALIZATIONREVIEW.COM contents The objective is helping organizations accomplish their 6 goals; not to push any specifi c type of technology. By Dan Kusnetzky
2015Readers Choice Awards “Chromebook desktop ÌÌÌÌ Winner ÌÌÌÌ access looks especially promising, especially in the education market.”
Garret Grajek, dinCloud
18 6
December 2014 / January 2015 | VIRTUALIZATION REVIEW | VOL. 7, NO. 2
FEATURES 11 Best Cloud Storage Product 15 Best Network 4 The 2015 Reader’s Choice 12 Best Cloud Security Product Virtualization Product Awards and Buyer’s Guide 12 Best Cloud Software Product 16 Best Virtualization Security Product You, the readers, have spoken. 13 Best Business Continuity Product Here are the virtualization and Best Converged 14 Best Virtualization 17 cloud computing products that Automation Product Infrastructure Product rock your world. Best Virtualization Training 15 Best Storage 17 6 Best Application Virtualization Product Virtualization Product 6 Best Server Virtualization Product Best Desktop Virtualization/ 7 18 2015 Virtualization Predictions COLUMNS Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Product What can you expect to happen 2 Editor’s Note: KEITH WARD in the virtualization and cloud 3 Expectations for 2015 8 Best Mobile Virtualization/ BYOD Product industries in the coming year? These 28 Dan’s Take: DAN KUSNETZKY experts weigh in with their forecasts. VDI: It’s All About the Apps, Stupid 8 Best Thin/Zero Client Computing Product Compiled by Keith Ward 30 Everyday Virtualization: RICK VANOVER Best Virtualization Management 8 Following the Rules: Using DRS Groups & Optimization Product 32 Take 5: TOM FENTON 10 Best Cloud Infrastructure/ Platform Product Tips for a Hyperconverged Appliance
COVER IMAGE SHUTTERSTOCK.COM VirtualizationReview.com | Virtualization Review | December 2014/January 2015 | 1 ED NOTEWARD VIRTUALIZATIONREVIEW.COM December 2014 / January 2015 ■ VOL. 7 ■ NO. 5
EDITORIAL STAFF Editor in Chief Keith Ward Group Managing Editor Wendy Hernandez
COLUMNISTS James Brown Tom Fenton Dan Kusnetzky Elias Khnaser Rick Vanover
ART STAFF VP Art and Brand Design Scott Shultz KEITH WARD Associate Creative Director Scott Rovin
PRODUCTION STAFF Director, Print & Online Production David Seymour 3 Expectations for 2015 Production Coordinator Teresa Antonio
In this issue, you’ll fi nd a group of predictions for the virtualization and cloud ONLINE/DIGITAL MEDIA industry for the new year (see p. XX). In that spirit, I wanted to do my own VP Digital Strategy Becky Nagel Senior Site Administrator Shane Lee predictions for what we’re likely to see in 2015. Senior Front-End Rodrigo Muñoz The Internet of Things (IoT) becomes a real thing. I hate the phrase, and Dev/Designer the acronym. But what it actually is will truly take hold in the public consciousness, ADVERTISING AND SALES as well as business. Gartner Inc. recently predicted a 30 percent increase in Chief Revenue Offi cer Dan LaBianca “things,” or network-connected devices, for 2015; it estimates that nearly 5 billion Publisher Al Tiano Microsoft Account Manager Danna Vedder items will have become digitized and connected, from automobiles to vacuums to Advertising Sales Associate Tanya Egenolf maybe my coffee cup (what I wouldn’t give for a sensor that knew when my cup was empty and auto-refi lled it). For IT pros and C-level execs, it also means fi guring out how to build a business model around this explosion; not merely connecting the devices, but making money off of the new awareness those devices have. The cloud stops being a new thing. The cloud is so pervasive now that it’s President Henry Allain no longer cool. It’s not new, or Wow!, or anything like that. It’s an accepted fact VP Lead Services Division Michele Imgrund Director, Client Services & of our lives, not an add-on. IT departments no longer (for the most part) have to Webinar Production Tracy S. Cook fi ght to implement cloud technology at some level, whether it be public, private or Director, Audience Development & hybrid. Management has accepted it as a fact of life in 2015, so we’ll see even more Lead Generation Marketing Irene Fincher innovation in this area, along with lots of mergers as the fi eld undergoes some necessary consolidation. Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! The long, lingering economic malaise will lift, and companies,
which have been wary about hiring during an uncertain time, will start to expand President & Chief Executive Offi cer Rajeev Kapur at a healthy rate. Many of those will be in the virtualization and cloud space, Chief Operating Offi cer Henry Allain meaning it’s a good time to upgrade your skills or get new ones. And if you’re Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Offi cer Richard Vitale employed already, think about asking for a raise. VR Executive Vice President Michael J. Valenti
Virtualization Review Magazine (ISSN 1941-2843) is published four times a year (July, August/September, ID STATEMENT Vice President, Erik A. Lindgren October, and December/January) by 1105 Media, Inc., 9201 Oakdale Avenue, Ste. 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311. Complimentary Information Technology subscriptions are sent to qualifying subscribers. Annual subscription rates payable in U.S. funds for non-qualifi ed subscribers & Application Development are: U.S. $39.95, International $64.95. SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES, BACK ISSUE REQUESTS AND ADDRESS CHANGES: Mail to: Virtualization Review, 9201 Oakdale Avenue, Suite 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311, E-mail [email protected] or call 818- Chairman of the Board Jeff rey S. Klein 814-5223, fax number 818-936-0267. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Virtualization Review, 9201 Oakdale Avenue, Suite 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311. Canada Publications Mail Agreement No: 40612608. Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to 9121 Oakdale Avenue, Suite 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT © Copyright 2014 by 1105 Reaching the Staff Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Reproductions in whole or part prohibited except by written permission. Mail Staff may be reached via e-mail, telephone, fax, or mail. requests to “Permissions Editor,” c/o Virtualization Review, 4 Venture, Irvine, CA 92618. LEGAL DISCLAIMER The information A list of editors and contact information is also available in this magazine has not undergone any formal testing by 1105 Media, Inc. and is distributed without any warranty expressed online at VirtualizationReview.com. or implied. Implementation or use of any information contained herein is the reader’s sole responsibility. While the information E-mail: To e-mail any member of the staff , please use the has been reviewed for accuracy, there is no guarantee that the same or similar results may be achieved in all environments. following form: [email protected] Technical inaccuracies may result from printing errors and/or new developments in the industry. CORPORATE ADDRESS: Irvine Offi ce (weekdays, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. PT) Telephone 949-265-1520; Fax 949-265-1528 1105 Media, 9201 Oakdale Ave. Ste 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311, www.1105media.com MEDIA KITS: Direct your Media Kit 4 Venture, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92618 requests to Dan LaBianca, VP and Group Publisher, [email protected], 972-687-6702 (phone) or 972-687-6799 Corporate Offi ce (weekdays, 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. PT) (fax). REPRINTS: For single article reprints (in minimum quantities of 250-500), e-prints, plaques and posters contact: PARS Telephone 818-814-5200; Fax 818-734-1522 International, Phone: 212-221-9595, E-mail: [email protected], magreprints.com/QuickQuote.asp LIST RENTAL This 9201 Oakdale Avenue, Suite 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311 publication’s subscriber list, as well as other lists from 1105 Media, Inc., is available for rental. For more information, please The opinions expressed within the articles and other contents contact our list manager, Merit Direct. Phone: 914-368-1000; E-mail: [email protected]; Web: www.meritdirect.com. herein do not necessarily express those of the publisher.
2 | December 2014 / January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com Continuous Cloud Infrastructures
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Visit us at www.HDS.com/go/gad COVER STORY | 2015 RCAs/Buyer’s Guide
You, the readers, have spoken. Here are the virtualization and cloud computing products that rock your world.
By Keith Ward
4 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com ecember is the most tradition-fi lled month of the year: holiday movies, getting a tree, lighting the menorah, offi ce parties, eggnog. One other, lesser-known tradition also happens in December—the Virtualization Review Reader’s Choice Awards. It’s that wonderful time of year whenD we reveal what virtualization products you like best—the tools, platforms and solutions you rely on to get your job done. Most of our categories stayed the same this year as compared to last year, although products have been added or deleted in many categories. There is one new category, though: Best Converged Infrastructure Product. These all-in-one hardware appliances take the “kitchen sink” route, combining everything you need for virtualization and cloud computing in a single package. I’d like to thank each of you who voted this year—this quite literally doesn’t happen without your input. In each category, we recognize a winner and two runners-up. In addition, we include one more product—an Editor’s Choice—to honor products that deserve honorable mention or otherwise stand out, in our editors’ opinions. In these lists you’ll see old favorites, and some newbies that might surprise you. One thing that won’t surprise, however, is the general excellence of the products presented here. (Note also that some products may not be the most current version, and some may not even be sold anymore; but they’re still the products being relied upon and used.) Virtualization and cloud computing is a huge area, and we know we’ve left some folks out here and there. If you’re a vendor and would like your company’s product included in next year’s awards, send an email to [email protected], with “2016 Buyer’s Guide Additions”
in the Subject line. Vendors and readers, feel free to suggest new categories, as well. Let us know how we can make this even better. One change to this year’s awards is that we’re no longer including pricing information. Nearly every vendor now has a free trial of its products, and almost all of them require you to call to get a price.
IMAGE FROM SHUTTERSTOCK/VRM Staff Happy Holidays! And, now, on to the winners!
VirtualizationReview.com | Virtualization Review | December 2014/January 2015 | 5 COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyer’s Guide
Best Application Best Server Virtualization Product Virtualization Product Server virtualization started the virtualization movement, with Application virtualization allows apps written for one version the hypervisor’s ability to abstract the server from the hardware, of an OS to work on another version of that OS, or another OS making it possible to stack multiple severs onto one physical box. altogether. This year, VMware takes top honors with ThinApp. And, yes, VMware once again takes home the gold medal, with Citrix, with XenApp and Microsoft, with App-V, joined VMware vSphere. vSphere is the Windows of the virtualization world; on the podium. And the Editor’s Choice product is Novell everyone pretty much uses it. Microsoft is next, with its well- ZENworks, which got some nice upgrades this year. By the way, regarded and increasingly popular Hyper-V hypervisor. Citrix and get used to seeing many of these names; you’ll encounter them XenServer round out the “Big Three.” Oracle VM, also based on often from here on out. the Xen Hypervisor, wins the Editor’s Choice award.
WINNER: WINNER: VMware ThinApp - VMware Inc. vSphere - VMware Inc. http://vmware.com http://vmware.com
FINALIST: FINALIST: Windows Server with Hyper-V Citrix XenApp - Citrix Systems Inc. http://citrix.com - Microsoft http://microsoft.com FINALIST: FINALIST: App-V - Microsoft http://microsoft.com Citrix XenServer - Citrix Systems Inc. http://citrix.com EDITOR’S CHOICE: EDITOR’S CHOICE: ZENworks - Novell Oracle VM - Oracle Corp. http://novell.com http://oracle.com 2X Remote Application Server - 2X Software http://2x.com Dell vStart series - Dell Inc. http://dell.com 2X Remote LoadBalancer - 2X Software http://2x.com ftServer - Stratus Technologies http://stratus.com AccessNow - Ericom Software http://ericom.com HC3 - Scale Computing http://scalecomputing.com AdminStudio Suite - Flexera Software LLC http://fl exerasoftware.com Proxmox Virtual Environment - Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH Application Delivery Solution – Radware Ltd. http://proxmox.com http://radware.com Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Servers Application Jukebox - Numecent - Red Hat Inc. http://numecent.com http://redhat.com
AppZero Cloud - AppZero Riverbed SteelFusion (formerly Granite) http://appzero.com - Riverbed Technology http://riverbed.com Cameyo - Cameyo http://cameyo.com Stratus Avance - Stratus Technololgies http://stratus.com ChangeBASE - Dell Inc. http://dell.com Virtuozzo Containers - Parallels IP Holdings GmbH http://parallels.com eG Enterprise - eG Innovations Inc. http://eginnovations.com vSMP Foundation - ScaleMP Inc. http://scalemp.com ElectricCommander - Electric Cloud http://electric-cloud.com
Scense - Scense http://www.scense.com
Spoon Server - Spoon Inc. http://spoon.net
Symantec Workspace Virtualization - Symantec Corp. http://symantec.om
6 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyers Guide
NexentaConnect for VMware Horizon Best Desktop Virtualization/Virtual - Nexenta Systems Inc. Desktop Infrastructure Product http://nexenta.com Desktop virtualization and VDI do the same basic thing: treat Pano for VDI - Thinspace Technology Ltd. Logic end-user terminals as dummies, and pull down OSes and apps http://thinspace.com from a server to deliver to the user. VMware had two winners this year: VMware View 5.1, the champ, and Desktone (now Profi leUnity FlexApp - Liquidware Labs Inc. http://liquidwarelabs.com rebranded as VMware Horizon Air) as a fi nalist. The other fi nalist was Citrix XenDesktop, one of the seminal products Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (desktop add-on to in the VDI space. Parallels—seen as more of a consumer-level RHEV) - Red Hat Inc. product, but still in heavy usage in business environments— http://redhat.com was selected as the Editor’s Choice. RES Workspace Manager - RES Software WINNER: http://ressoftware.com Horizon View (formerly VMware View) ShadowProtect Desktop - VMware Inc. - StorageCraft Technology Corp. http://vmware.com http://storagecraft.com
FINALIST: Splunk Apps for Citrix XenDesktop - Splunk Inc. http://splunk.com Citrix XenDesktop Citrix Systems Inc. http://citrix.com SmartVDI Host Platforms - ClearCube Technology Inc. http://clearcube.com FINALIST: Horizon Air (formerly Desktone) - Stratusphere UX - Liquidware Labs Inc. VMware Inc. http://liquidwarelabs.com http://vmware.com Teradici APEX 2800 Server Offl oad Card - Teradici Corp. http://teradici.com EDITOR’S CHOICE: Thin Desktop - ThinLaunch Software LLC Parallels Desktop IP Holdings GmbH http://thinlaunch.com http://parallels.com Unidesk - Unidesk 2X Remote Application Server - 2X Software http://unidesk.com http://2x.com VDI Blaster - Devon IT AMAX Virtual Desktop Series - AMAX Information http://devonit.com Technologies Inc. http://amax.com VERDE - Virtual Bridges http://vbridges.com Aternity for VDI - Aternity http://aternity.com Virtual Desktop Platform (VDP) - VDIworks http://vdiworks.com BareMetal - MokaFive http://moka5.com vSpace - NComputing http://ncomputing.com Ceedo Enterprise - Ceedo http://ceedo.com vSpace Management Center - NComputing http://ncomputing.com Citrix VDI-in-a-Box - Citrix Systems Inc. http://citrix.com vWorkspace - Dell Inc. http://dell.com Connection Broker/Leostream http://leostream.com Workspace Streaming - Symantec Corp. http://symantec.com Desktop Central - ManageEngine http://manageengine.com WorldDesk for Enterprise - WorldDesk http://myworlddesk.com Desktop Cloud Computing Appliance - Sphere3D http://sphere3d.com
LeoStream Cloud Desktops - Leostream Corp. http://leostreamdesktops.com
Login VSI - Login VSI http://loginvsi.com
VirtualizationReview.com | Virtualization Review | December 2014/January 2015 | 7 COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyer’s Guide
than 54 percent of reader votes. RDPSoft and its Remote Best Mobile Virtualization/ Desktop Reporter makes its fi rst appearance as a fi nalist in BYOD Product this category. Teradici PCoIP Zero Clients remain a compelling Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) refl ects the changing nature offering, and win the Editor’s Choice race. of IT, as the days of only company-approved devices getting on the network is becoming a relic. The VMware Horizon Suite WINNER: (now AirWatch Mobile Device Management) was the top choice Dell Wyse T10 - Dell Wyse in a close race, followed by Citrix XenMobile and Microsoft http://dell.com
System Center Confi guration Manager. Dell Enterprise Mobility FINALIST: Management, further evidence of the company’s expansion vWorkspace ThinShell - Dell Inc. beyond desktops and laptops, is worth watching. http://dell.com
WINNER: FINALIST: Horizon Suite – VMware Inc. http://vmware.com Remote Desktop Reporter - RDPsoft http://rdpsoft
FINALIST: EDITOR’S CHOICE: Citrix XenMobile - Citrix Systems Inc. http://citrix.com PCoIP Zero Clients - Teradici Corp. http://teradici.com FINALIST: System Center Confi guration Manager 2X Remote Application Server - 2X Software http://2X.com - Microsoft http://microsoft.com JC6100C Cloud Computing Model - Computer Lab EDITOR’S CHOICE: International http://computerlab.com Enterprise Mobility Management - Dell Inc. NoTouch Desktop - Stratodesk http://dell.com http://stratodesk.com
2X Client for RDP - 2X Software Thin and Zero Client Hardware Series - IGEL Technology http://2x.com http://igel.com
Cortado Corporate Server - Cortado AG Userful Multiplatform (formerly MultiSeat Linux Zero http://cortado.com Clients) - Userful http://userful.com Enterprise Mobility Management - Dell http://dell.com Zero Clients - 10ZIG Technology http://10zig.com Intelligent Mobile Edge - Extreme Networks Inc. http://extremenetworks.com Best Virtualization Management Mobile Admin - SolarWinds http://solarwinds.com & Optimization Product This is one of the most popular categories, with more than MokaFive for iOS (now Enterprise AnyWare 80 entrants. Readers spoke loud and clear, though; vCenter Infrastructure) - Moka5 Operations Management Suite (now renamed as vRealize http://moka5.com Operations) won handily. The other fi nalists, the venerable Parallels Access - Desktop IP Holdings GmbH Microsoft System Center and Cisco Virtual Network http://parallels.com Management Center, also garnered strong vote totals. Veeam, Pocketcloud Explore Premium - Dell Wyse which focuses on virtual environments rather than physical http://pocketcloud.com components, continues to show well, and its ONE product grabbed the Editor’s Choice award. vLogix Mobile - Red Bend Software http://redbend.com WINNER: vCenter Operations Management Suite - VMware Inc. Best Thin/Zero Client http://vmware.com Computing Product Beyond BYOD, Dell is dominating the thin/zero client space. FINALIST: It won with Dell Wyse T10, as its acquisition of Wyse several System Center - Microsoft years ago continues to pay dividends. ThinShell was another http://microsoft.com popular product, and between the two, they captured more
8 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyers Guide
FINALIST: HotLink SuperVISOR for VMware vCenter - HotLink Corp. Virtual Network Management Center http://hotlink.com - Cisco Systems Inc. http://cisco.com HP OneView for VMware vCenter (formerly Insight Control for VMware vCenter Server) - Hewlett- HyTrust Cloudcontrol - HyTrust Inc. EDITOR’S CHOICE: http://hytrust.com Veeam ONE - Veeam Software http://veeam.com ImageManager - StorageCraft Technology Corp. http://storagecraft.com
Alta - Akamai Technologies Intigua - Intigua http://akamai.com http://intigua.com
AppSense User Virtualization Platform - AppSense ioTurbine - Fusion-io http://appsense.com http://fusionio.com
APTARE StorageConsole Platform - APTARE Inc. Layered Tech - Datapipe http://aptare.com http://datapipe.com
Argent for VMware - Argent Software Librato - Librato http://argent.com http://librato.com athene - Metron-Athene Inc. LogicMonitor - LogicMonitor Inc. http://metron-athene.com http://logicmonitor.com
AX Series - A10 Networks Inc. Netuitive - Netuitive http://a10networks.com http://netuitive.com
Axxia Network Accelerators - LSI Corp. Network Services - Infoblox Inc. http://lsi.com http://infoblox.com
BlueCat Automation Manager - BlueCat Networks NetWrix Auditor (formerly VMware Change Reporter) - http://bluecatnetworks.com Netwrix Corp. http://netwrix.com Bocada vpConnect - Bocada Inc. http://bocada.com Nexus 1010 and 1010-X Virtual Services Appliances - Cisco Systems Inc. CA LISA Platform - CA http://cisco.com http://ca.com OneFabric Data Center - Extreme Networks Inc. Centrix WorkSpace iQ - Centrix Software Ltd. http://extremenetworks.com http://centrixsoftware.com OnCommand Management Software - NetApp Inc. Cirba - Cirba Inc. http://netapp.com http://cirba.com OneCommand Vision - Emulex dsNet Manager - Cleversafe Inc. http://emulex.com http://cleversafe.com Operations Manager - VMTurbo Inc. Dynamic Multi-Pathing for VMware - Symantec Corp. http://vmturbo.com http://symantec.com Packard Co. Embrane heleos - Embrane Inc. http://hp.com http://embrane.com PAN Manager Software - Egenera Inc. Enterprise Manager - F5 Networks Inc. http://egenera.com http://f5.com PerfectDisk Hyper-V - Raxco Inc. Equalizer On Demand - Coyote Point Systems http://raxco.com http://coyotepoint.com PerfectDisk vSphere - Raxco Inc. Foglight for Storage Management - Dell Inc. http://raxco.com http://dell.com PlateSpin Migrate - NetIQ Corp. Foglight for Virtualization - Dell Inc. http://netiq.com http://dell.com Simpana - CommVault Grid Engine - Univa Corp. http://commvault.com http://univa.com Simplify Monitoring - Tricerat Hitachi Command Suite - Hitachi Data Systems http://www.tricerat.com http://hds.com
VirtualizationReview.com | Virtualization Review | December 2014/January 2015 | 9 COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyer’s Guide
SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer VM Option 6fusion for Enterprise IT - 6fusion (formerly IgniteVM) - SolarWinds http://6fusion.com http://solarwinds.com 7048-7500 Series Devices - Arista Networks Inc. SteelCentral NetShark (formerly Riverbed http://arista.com Virtual Cascade) - Riverbed http://riverbed.comj Active System Manager - Dell Inc. http://dell.com Stratusphere FIT - Liquidware Labs Inc. http://liquidwarelabs.com AgileAppsLive (formerly LongJump Platform as a Service) - Software AG United Communications Managed Services - Avaya Inc. http://softwareag.com http://avaya.com AppFog - AppFog Inc. up.time - Uptime Software Inc. http://appfog.com http://uptimesoftware.com Application Services - AT&T vCapacity - Refl ex Systems (now StrataCloud) http://att.com http://refl exsystems.com Apprenda Enterprise PaaS/Apprenda Inc. Veeam Management Pack - Veeam Software http://apprenda.com http://veeam.com AvailabilityGuard/Cloud - Continuity Software Virtualization Manager - SolarWinds http://continuitysoftware.com http://solarwinds.com BIG-IP Virtual Edition series of products - F5 Networks VirtualWisdom - Virtual Instruments Inc. http://f5.com http://virtualinstruments.com Canopy Anytime Communication Xangati Management Dashboard - Xangati & Collaboration Cloud - Canopy http://xangati.com http://canopy-cloud.com
Zenoss Service Dynamics - Zenoss Inc. Caringo Swarm (formerly CAStor) - Caringo Inc. http://zenoss.com http://caringo.com
Cisco UCS Director (formerly Cloupia Unifi ed Best Cloud Infrastructure/ Infrastructure Controller) - Cisco Systems Inc. Platform Product http://cisco.com The only category that eclipsed virtualization management CloudArray - TwinStrata (recently acquired by EMC Corp.) and optimization was cloud computing, which had 85 contenders. http://twinstrata.com The product you liked best here was VMware vCloud Director. CloudBees Platform as a Service - CloudBees Inc. But there was no overwhelming majority vote here, with http://cloudbees.com Microsoft Azure and Amazon EC2 cloud both garnering strong support. OpenStack was an easy Editor’s Choice award, as the Cloud Computing Services - Expedient Data Centers http://expedient.com open source platform is rocketing to prominence, and may soon make the fi nalist list. Cloud CORE (formerly Cloud OnRamp Enablement) – Geminare Inc. WINNER: http://geminare.com vCloud Director - VMware Inc. Cloudera Enterprise - Cloudera Inc. http://vmware.com http://cloudera.com
FINALIST: Cloud Intelligent Network - Cisco Systems Inc. Microsoft Azure - Microsoft http://cisco.com http://microsoft.com Cloud Foundry - Pivotal Software Inc. http://pivotal.io FINALIST: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Cloud Hosting - Hosting.com - Amazon Web Services Inc. http://hosting.com http://aws.amazon.com CloudHub - MuleSoft http://mulesoft.com EDITOR’S CHOICE: OpenStack Cloudify - GigaSpaces http://openstack.org http://gigaspaces.com Cloud Lifecycle Management - BMC Corp. http://bmc.com
10 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyers Guide
Cloud Management Portal - Virtacore Systems Inc. PAN Cloud Director - Egenera Inc. http://virtacore.com http://egenera.com
CloudPhysics - CloudPhysics Inc. Parallels Automation for Cloud Infrastructure http://cloudphysics.com - Parallels IP Holdings GmbH http://parallels.com CloudPlatform - Citrix Systems Inc. http://citrix.com Rackspace Managed Cloud - Rackspace http://rackspace.com Cloud Recovery - Geminare Inc. http://geminare.com Sales Cloud - Salesforce.com Inc. http://salesforce.com Cumulogic Cloud Services - CumuLogic Inc. http://cumulogic.com Sanbolic - Sanbolic Inc. http://sanbolic.com Dell Cloud Manager - Dell Inc. http://dell.com SmartDataCenter - Joyent Inc. http://joyent.com Engine Yard - Engine Yard Inc. http://engineyard.com SoftLayer Private Clouds - SoftLayer Technologies Inc. http://softlayer.com Enterprise Cloud Services - Hewlett-Packard Co. http://hp.com Stackato - ActiveState Software Inc. http://activestate.com Enterprise Cloud Services - SunGard Availability Services http://sungardas.com Stratosphere Elastic Cloud - Datapipe Inc. http://datapipe.com Eucalyptus Cloud - Eucalyptus Systems Inc. http://eucalyptus.com Virtual Computing Platform - Nutanix http://nutanix.com GoGrid - GoGrid http://gogrid.com Virtual Datacenters - Bluelock http://bluelock.com Hitachi Content Platform - Hitachi Data Systems http://hds.com vRun - CloudFounders http://cloudfounders.com IBM Platform HPC Cloud - IBM Corp. http://ibm.com xStream Enterprise Cloud - Virtustream Inc. http://virtustream.com iland Cloud Services - iland http://iland.com
Intalio|Create - Intalio Inc. Best Cloud Storage Product http://intalio.com Dropbox barely eked out a win over Amazon Simple Storage Leostream Cloud Desktops - Leostream Service, while Atmos from EMC took the other fi nalist slot. http://leostream.com The innovative Microsoft StorSimple was named the Editor’s Choice in this category. Managed Hosting Service - Verizon Terremark http://verizonenterprise.com WINNER: mCloud - Morphlabs Inc. Dropbox - Dropbox Inc. http://morphlabs.com http://dropbox.com
Moab Cloud Suite - Adaptive Computing Inc. FINALIST: http://adaptivecomputing.com Amazon Simple Storage Service - NaviCloud Platform - NaviSite Inc. Amazon Web Services Inc. http://navisite.com http://aws.amazon.com
Nebula - Nebula Inc. FINALIST: http://nebula.com Atmos - EMC Corp. NephoScale Cloud Computing - NephoScale Inc. http://emc.com http://nephoscale.com EDITOR’S CHOICE: OpenShift Enterprise - Red Hat Inc. StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage - http://redhat.com Microsoft http://microsoft.com Oracle Fabric Manager - Oracle Corp. http://oracle.com
OS33 - OS33 http://os33.com
VirtualizationReview.com | Virtualization Review | December 2014/January 2015 | 11 COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyer’s Guide
FINALIST: Abiquo anyCloud - Abiquo Inc. http://abiquo.com Symantec O3 Cloud Identity and Access Control - Symantec Corp. Box - Box http://symantec.com http://box.com FINALIST: Carbonite Business - Carbonite Inc. IBM Cloud Security and Infrastructure http://carbonite.com Management Services - IBM Corp. http://ibm.com CloudAlly - CloudAlly http://cloudally.com EDITOR’S CHOICE: CloudArray - TwinStrata (recently acquired SecureCloud - Trend Micro Inc. http://trendmicro.com by EMC Corp.) http://twinstrata.com 2X SecureRemoteDesktop - 2X Software Cloud Storage - AT&T http://2x.com http://att.com Access Manager - NetIQ Corp. Cloud Storage Network - Symform http://netiq.com (recently acquired by Quantum Corp.) http://symform.com Advanced Threat Protection - Fortinet Inc. http://fortinet.com Global File System - Panzura http://panzura.com BIG-IP Virtual Edition series of products - F5 Networks Inc. Hitachi Cloud Storage Solutions - Hitachi Data Systems http://f5.com http://hds.com CA Secure Cloud (formerly CA CloudMinder) - CA iCloud - Apple Inc. http://ca.com http://apple.com CloudPassage Halo - CloudPassage Inc. MagFS/Maginatics http://cloudpassage.com http://maginatics.com Dome9 Business Cloud - Dome9 Security Ltd. Network for Cloud Services/Aryaka http://dome9.com http://aryaka.com EVault Cloud Backup Service - Seagate Technology LLC NexentaStor - Nexenta Systems Inc. http://evault.com http://nexenta.com Hytrust CloudControl (formerly HighCloud Security) Profi tBricks Infrastructure as a Service - Profi tBricks - Hytrust Inc. http://profi tbricks.com http://hytrust.com
SolidFire - SolidFire KONA Security Solutions - Akamai Technologies http://solidfi re.com http://akamai.com
SteelStore (formerly Riverbed Whitewater Cloud Managed Network Security Services - SilverSky Storage Gateways) - NetApp http://silversky.com http://netapp.com Okta Enterprise - Okta Inc. StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage - Microsoft http://okta.com http://microsoft.com Oxygen Enterprise - Oxygen Cloud http://oxygencloud.com
Best Cloud Security Product Panda Cloud Protection - Panda Security Security issues necessitate this category, the best cloud http://pandasecurity.com security product. Here, in a photo fi nish, McAfee Cloud Qualys Cloud Platform - Qualys Inc. Security nosed ahead of Symantec 03, which edged out IBM http://qualys.com Cloud Security. In all, this was probably the most competitive category in the list, with no product getting more than 12.6 SMB Cloud-Managed Security Service - Check Point percent of the vote. SecureCloud from Trend Micro, the Software Technologies Ltd. http://checkpoint.com Editor’s Choice, fi nished just out of the top three, but not far behind McAfee—an indication of just how tight the race was.
WINNER: Best Cloud Software Product This is a wide-open category that can include just about McAfee Cloud Security - McAfee Inc. http://mcafee.com anything used to leverage the cloud for business. The top vote-getter was ShareFile, the Citrix enterprise fi le sync and sharing service. Google Fusion Tables is used for Web data,
12 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyers Guide
“to gather, visualize, and share data tables,” according to SAP Cloud Applications - SAP http://sap.com the company. It made the fi nals, along with the OpenStack private cloud platform. And although it didn’t fi nish in the top vCommander - Embotics three, no list of cloud software would be complete without http://embotics.com Salesforce.com, so it’s our Editor’s Choice winner. Workday - Workday Inc. http://workday.com WINNER: ShareFile - Citrix Systems Inc. WorkSpace Universal - Centrix Software Ltd. http://citrix.com http://centrixsoftware.com
FINALIST: Wyse WSM Desktop and Application Virtualization Fusion Tables - Google Inc. – Dell Wyse http://tables.googlelabs.com http://dell.com xStream - Virtustream Inc. FINALIST: http://virtustream.com OpenStack http://openstack.org Zoho Business Applications - Zoho http://zoho.com
EDITOR’S CHOICE: Zuora - Zuora Inc. Salesforce.com - Salesforce.com Inc. http://zuora.com http://salesforce.com
Acumatica Cloud ERP - Acumatica Best Business Continuity Product http://acumatica.com “Business Continuity” really just means “backup and recovery.” In other words, what keeps you running when disaster strikes? AppZero Cloud - AppZero http://appzero.com This was another popular category, with nearly 60 products. And once again, VMware is what readers trust most, with Cloud Manager - NetIQ Corp. vCenter Site Recovery Manager at the top of the standings; it http://netiq.com was the only product with a double-digit percentage. The other CloudTest Platform - Soasta fi nalists were Dell AppAssure and Veeam, whose Backup & http://soasta.com Replication is specifi cally for vSphere and Hyper-V. IBM Tivoli wins Editor’s Choice for its enterprise abilities. Cloud Monitoring - Zenoss Inc. http://zenoss.com WINNER: vCenter Site Recovery Manager - Cloud Cruiser Enterprise - Cloud Cruiser http://cloudcruiser.com VMware Inc. http://vmware.com HotLink Hybrid Express - HotLink Corp. http://hotlink.com FINALIST: AppAssure - Dell Inc. Intacct Financials - Intacct Corp. http://dell.com http://us.intacct.com FINALIST: Komodo IDE - ActiveState Software Inc. http://activestate.com Veeam Backup & Replication - Veeam Software NetSuite ERP - NetSuite Inc. http://veeam.com http://netsuite.com EDITOR’S CHOICE: Oracle Cloud Applications - Oracle Corp. IBM Tivoli Storage Manager - IBM Corp. http://oracle.com http://ibm.com Oracle Taleo Enterprise Cloud Service - Oracle http://oracle.com Acronis Backup & Recovery - Acronis International GmbH http://acronis.com Piston OpenStack - Piston Cloud Computing Inc. http://pistoncloud.com Acronis Backup for VMware (formerly vmProtect) - Acronis International GmbH Puppet Enterprise - Puppet Labs http://acronis.com http://puppetlabs.com Altaro Hyper-V Backup - Altaro Software QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Hosting Service http://altaro.com – Intuit Inc. http://intuit.com ARCserve Backup - CA http://ca.com
VirtualizationReview.com | Virtualization Review | December 2014/January 2015 | 13 COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyer’s Guide
Asigra Cloud Backup - Asigra Inc. ShadowProtect Virtual - StorageCraft http://asigra.com http://storagecraft.com
AvailabilityGuard/SAN - Continuity Software SharePoint Backup - Metalogix International GmbH http://continuitysoftware.com http://metalogix.com
Backup Exec - Symantec Corp. StorageCraft Cloud Services - StorageCraft Technology http://symantec.com Corp. http://storagecraft.com Cloud Recovery/Auto Failover - Geminare Inc. http://geminare.com STORServer Virtual Machine Backup - STORServer http://storserver.com Continuous Data Protector - FalconStor Software http://falconstor.com Stratus Avance - Stratus Technologies http://stratus.com CrashPlan - Code 42 Software Inc. http://code42.com Tintri ReplicateVM - Tintri http://tintri.com Data Recovery Services - Kroll Ontrack Inc. http://krollontrack.com Unitrends Enterprise Backup - Unitrends http://unitrends.com Double-Take DR - Vision Solutions Inc. http://visionsolutions.com Unitrends Virtual Backup and Replication (formerly PHD Virtual Backup & Replication) - Unitrends DRaaS - iland http://iland.com http://unitrends.com EVault Backup - Seagate Technology LLC http://evault.com Veeam Backup Free Edition - Veeam Software http://veeam.com everRun MX - Stratus Technologies http://stratus.com WD Arkeia Backup - Western Digital Technologies Inc. http://arkeia.com ExaGrid appliance - ExaGrid http://exagrid.com Zerto Virtual Replication - Zerto http://zerto.com FarStone Total Backup Recovery - FarStone http://farstone.com Zetta DataProtect - Zetta.net http://zetta.net HotLink DR Express - HotLink Corp. http://hotlink.com
MozyPro - EMC Corp. http://mozy.com Best Virtualization Automation Product NetBackup - Symantec As virtualization and cloud computing permeates enterprises http://symantec.com more and more, automation takes on greater importance. Neverfail IT Continuity Architect - Neverfail Ltd. Without it, operational effi ciencies are almost impossible to http://neverfailgroup.com achieve. This was another very tight category, with all three leading products bunched close together. In the end, though, nScaled Recovery-as-a-Service - nScaled (acquired by Acronis) Red Hat gets the gold, with Red Hat CloudForms. It was http://nscaled.com followed very closely by HP Cloud Service Automation and IBM SmartCloud Orchestrator. One of the companies in the onQ series - QuorumLabs Inc. http://quorum.net industry doing some of the most interesting things is Puppet Labs, which is why it wins the Editor’s Choice here. Paragon Drive Backup Server - Paragon Software Group http://paragon-software.com WINNER: Red Hat CloudForms - Red Hat Inc. PlateSpin Forge - NetIQ Corp. http://redhat.com http://netiq.com FINALIST: rCloud - Persistent Systems http://rcloud.persistent.com HP Cloud Service Automation - Hewlett-Packard Co. Recovery-as-a-Service - Bluelock http://hp.com http://bluelock.com FINALIST: Scout Cloud - InMage Systems (acquired by Microsoft) IBM SmartCloud Orchestrator http://inmage.com - IBM Corp. SEP sesam - SEP Software http://ibm.com http://sepsoftware.com
14 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyers Guide
EDITOR’S CHOICE: FalconStor Network Storage Server - FalconStor Software Puppet Enterprise - Puppet Labs http://falconstor.com http://puppetlabs.com Gemini All-Flash Arrays - Nimbus Data Systems Inc. http://nimbusdata.com BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management - BMC Corp. http://bmc.com Hitachi Unifi ed Storage VM - Hitachi Data Systems http://hds.com JAMS - MVP Systems Software Inc. http://jamsscheduler.com Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform - Hitachi Data Systems http://hds.com vProfi le - Refl ex Systems (no longer available) http://fl ip.refl exsystems.com Infi nio - Infi nio Systems Inc. http://infi nio.com
Intelligent Storage Element - X-IO Technologies Best Storage Virtualization Product http://xiostorage.com Strangely, the top vote-getter and champion is a product you can’t even buy anymore: VMware Virsto. It’s still in use in many Isilon Scale-out Storage Platform - EMC Corp. datacenters, however, based on the vote count. VMware parent http://emc.com company EMC was next with VPLEX, and NetApp was the other Nasuni Storage - Nasuni Corp. fi nalist. IBM Storwize, with a large available range of systems, http://nasuni.com wins Editor’s Choice recognition for its options. Nexsan NST - Imation Corp. http://imation.com WINNER: Virsto - VMware Inc. Pure Storage FlashArray - Pure Storage Inc. http://vmware.com http://purestorage.com
FINALIST: Sanbolic – Sanbolic Inc. http://sanbolic.com VPLEX - EMC Corp. http://emc.com SANsymphony - DataCore Software http://datacore.com FINALIST: NetApp V-Series Open Storage SSDNow Enterprise - Kingston Technology Corp. Controller - NetApp http://kingston.com http://netapp.com
EDITOR’S CHOICE: StarWind Virtual SAN - StarWind Software Inc. http://starwindsoftware.com Storwize - IBM Corp. http://ibm.com Stonefl y - Dynamic Network Factory Storage http://stonefl y.com AssuredSAN Series - Dot Hill Systems http://dothill.com StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage - Microsoft http://microsoft.com Atlantis USX - Atlantis Computing Inc. http://atlantiscomputing.com Tegile Storage Arrays - Tegile Inc. http://tegile.com Avere FXT Series Edge Filer - Avere http://averesystems.com Tintri VMstore - Tintri http://tintri.com BrickStor - Racktop Systems Inc. http://racktopsystems.com Violin Flash Arrays - Violin Memory Inc. http://violin-memory.com Brocade DCX 8510 Backbones - Brocade http://brocade.com
Cloud Storage Assurance - Geminare Inc. Best Network Virtualization Product http://geminare.com These days, network virtualization increasingly means software-defi ned networking (SDN), an extremely complicated Coraid EtherDrive Appliances - Coraid Inc. concept to pull off. VMware has been increasingly interested in http://coraid.com this area, and that focus has been rewarded with the winner DNF FlexStor - Dynamic Network Factory Inc. in this category, NSX, and a fi nalist, vSphere Distributed http://dnfstorage.com Switch. The other fi nalist is Cisco, with its Nexus 1000V, which Drobo B1200i - Drobo Inc. also works with vSphere. A niche player here, F5 Networks and http://drobo.com its BIG-IP Local Traffi c Manager Virtual Edition, is the Editor’s Choice winner for its innovate features.
VirtualizationReview.com | Virtualization Review | December 2014/January 2015 | 15 COVER STORY 2015 RCAs/Buyer’s Guide
FINALIST: WINNER: Deep Security - Trend Micro Inc. NSX - VMware Inc. http://trendmicro.com http://vmware.com EDITOR’S CHOICE: FINALIST: Symantec Endpoint Protection - vSphere Distributed Switch Symantec Corp. - VMware Inc. http://symantec.corp http://vmware.com
FINALIST: Barracuda Spam Firewall - Barracuda Networks Inc. Nexus 1000V - Cisco Systems Inc. http://barracuda.com http://cisco.com Bitdefender Gravity Zone - Bitdefender http://bitdefender.com EDITOR’S CHOICE: BIG-IP Local Traffi c Manager Virtual Catbird Security - Catbird Networks Inc. Edition - F5 Networks Inc. http://catbird.com http://f5.com Certes TrustNet Manager - Certes Networks Inc. http://certesnetworks.com BlackDiamond X Series - Extreme Networks Inc. http://extremenetworks.com Check Point Security Gateway Virtual Edition - Check Bluesocket vWLAN - Adtran Inc. Point Software Technologies Ltd. http://adtran.com (checkpoint.com)
Contrail - Juniper Networks Inc. Digital Guardian - Digital Guardian http://juniper.net http://digitalguardian.com
Dell Networking S-Series - Dell Inc. ESET Endpoint Solutions - ESET http://dell.com http://eset.com
Ethernet Switch Systems - Mellanox Technologies FortiGate Virtual Appliances - Fortinet http://mellanox.com http://fortinet.com
IBM RackSwitch - IBM GigaVUE Series - NextGig Systems Inc. http://ibm.com http://nextgigsystems.com
IBM SDN VE - IBM Corp. Invincea Enterprise Edition - Invincea Inc. http://ibm.com http://invincea.com
NetScaler Insight Center - Citrix Systems Inc. Ixia BreakingPoint - Ixia http://citrix.com http://ixiacom.com
QLogic Converged Network Adapters - QLogic Corp. Kaspersky Security for Virtualization - Kaspersky Lab http://qlogic.com http://usa.kaspersky.com
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V - Microsoft Porticor for VMware - Porticor Ltd. http://microsoft.com http://porticor.com
PowerBroker - BeyondTrust Inc. Best Virtualization Security Product http://beyondtrust.com Networking specialist Cisco dominates here, with its cloud Qualys Cloud Suite - Qualys Inc. fi rewall and virtual security gateway coming in at the top and http://qualys.com as one fi nalist. Trend Micro Deep Security also places as a Retina Network Security Scanner - BeyondTrust Inc. fi nalist here, and Symantec Endpoint Protection earns Editor’s http://beyondtrust.com Choice for its strong ability to eliminate malware. Safe Access - StillSecure WINNER: http://stillsecure.com Cisco ASA 1000V Cloud Firewall SRX Series Gateways - Juniper Networks Inc. - Cisco Systems Inc. http://juniper.net http://cisco.com Symantec Critical System Protection - Symantec Corp. FINALIST: http://symantec.com Cisco Virtual Security Gateway - Cisco Systems Inc. Tripwire VIA Platform - Tripwire Inc. http://tripwire.com http://cisco.com
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VM Fortress - Tresys Technology LLC http://tresys.com Best Virtualization Training WatchGuard XTMv - WatchGuard Technologies Inc. Training is a critical piece of the puzzle for virtualization, as the http://watchguard.com technology changes so rapidly. But the favorite vendors don’t change as rapidly, as last year’s winners were also this year’s Websense TRITON - Websense Inc. http://websense.com champions, starting with Global Knowledge. New Horizons and PluralSight, which is gaining a lot of industry momentum, were the fi nalists. ITT Tech deserves an Editor’s Choice for its breadth Best Converged of programs and longevity in the industry. Infrastructure Product This is a new category for 2015. Converged infrastructure— WINNER: products that combine all aspects of virtualization, including Global Knowledge Training LLC http://globalknowledge.com compute, networking and storage, into a single box—has taken off in the past year, and promises to grow quickly. Cisco FINALIST: scores another win here, with its Vblock systems combining New Horizons Computer EMC storage with Intel processors and VMware plumbing. HP Learning Centers makes its only entry in our winner’s circle this year, making it http://newhorizons.com as a fi nalist along with NetApp FlexPod. The IBM FlexSystem FINALIST: was named the Editor’s Choice winner. Pluralsight http://pluralsight.com WINNER:
Vblock - Cisco Systems Inc. EDITOR’S CHOICE: http://cisco.com ITT Technical Institute FINALIST: http://itt-tech.edu ConvergedSystem Ascolta - Hewlett-Packard Co. http://ascolta.com http://hp.com Capella University FINALIST: http://capella.edu FlexPod - NetApp http://netapp.com DeVry Institute http://devry.edu
EDITOR’S CHOICE: Learning Tree International Flex System - IBM Corp. http://learningtree.com http://ibm.com Fast Lane Active System - Dell Inc. http://fastlaneus.com http://dell.com Hatsize Forward by Unisys - Unisys http://hatsize.com http://unisys.com InfoSec Institute FusionCube - Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. http://infosecinstitute.com http://huawei.com Intense School HC3 - Scale Computing http://intenseschool.com http://scalecomputing.com Kaplan Nutanix Virtual Computing Platform - Nutanix http://kaplan.com http://nutanix.com MeasureUp Simplivity OmniCube - Simplivity Inc. http://measureup.com http://simplivity.com NetCom Learning Unifi ed Compute Platform - Hitachi Data Systems http://netcomlearning.com http://hds.com QuickStart Virtual Compute Appliance - Oracle Corp. http://quickstart.com http://oracle.com University of Phoenix http://phoenix.edu
VirtualizationReview.com | Virtualization Review | December 2014/January 2015 | 17 FEATURE | 2015 Virtualization Predictions
18 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com Virtualization2015 Keith Ward
Predictions can be tricky things, especially in the fi eld of virtualization and cloud computing, as everything changes so quickly, and innovation can come out of nowhere. For example, just a few years ago not many folks would’ve predicted the rapid ascent of containers, with virtual machines so fi rmly established as a core technology. Yet here we are, trying again. For this article, Virtualization Review reached out to various industry experts—writers, vendors, industry analysts—to get their take on what they expect to see coming in 2015. If you have your own predictions, and would like to see them on the Web site, send an e-mail to Editor in Chief Keith Ward ([email protected]) with the subject line: 2015 Predictions.
Chris Wolf, CTO, IT security professionals to do the kind of work that got Americas, VMware Inc. them excited to join the industry in the fi rst place. 1. Network Virtualization’s Rapid Growth Continues Many network security administrators that I speak I have a lot of conversations with senior IT leaders with describe a workday that mostly consists of open- about network virtualization, and the outcome is al- ing a service ticket, creating or modifying fi rewall most always the same—network virtualization isn’t a rules, and so on, and then closing a service ticket. They matter of if, but when. For many enterprises, “when” feel like factory workers. When network virtualization will arrive in 2015. We are continually pressed to im- automates mundane security tasks, security profes- prove time-to-value through greater agility and au- sionals are freed to focus on more important work, like tomation. For most organizations, networking and actually getting time to research emerging threats—a security remain the primary bottlenecks to workload job they might only get a chance to do one week a year provisioning. Many mature enterprises take two at a security conference. weeks or longer to provision all of the necessary net- Reading about major IT security incidents is practi- work and security resources to bring a new service cally a daily event. Most organizations have reached online, and some enterprises take as long as six to the conclusion that their traditional approach to net- eight weeks. Network virtualization and its associ- work security simply cannot scale in the cloud era. Vir- ated automation capabilities can reduce provisioning tual networks can provide dedicated stateful virtual delays from weeks to less than a day. That represents fi rewalls to every application in a datacenter—a con- a signifi cant gain in business agility. cept known as microsegmentation. Segmentation at Beyond speed, network virtualization can also free the VLAN or network subnet level has proven ineffec- SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
VirtualizationReview.com | Virtualization Review | December 2014/January 2015 | 19 FEATURE | 2015 Virtualization Predictions
tive. However, microsegmenation that delivers comprehen- Virtual devices enable bring your own device sive security at the application container (a virtual machine, (BYOD). Mobile VMs seem to have come and gone, for example) level provides a level of protection beyond what and with good reason. However, in 2015 new virtual- enterprises have ever been able to achieve. ization approaches like containers (backed by indus- There are many mature network virtualization options on try heavyweights like Samsung and CA Technologies) the market today, and as a result 2015 will see network virtu- will appear in the hands of millions, perhaps billions, alization achieve signifi cant penetration into the enterprise of consumers and business users with more fl exible, datacenter. personal and effi cient approaches to enable BYOD. Virtual security enables BYOD. With new data 2. Our Building Blocks Will Get Bigger breaches revealed almost daily, mainstream users Most IT professionals are builders at heart. Designing and are increasingly concerned about password risk, yet building complex IT systems lets us fl ex our brains, but at annoyed by heavy-handed solutions, especially on the same time often slows down business agility. We can mobile devices. In 2015, business users and consum- still fl ex our brains, but we need to redefi ne our value, ers will increasingly exchange abstracted identity which is no longer about who can build the best architec- with virtual single sign-on (SSO), powered by tech- ture from scratch. Our value is in how can we solve prob- nologies like OAuth, OpenID, and WS-Federation. lems quickly and safely. Virtualization goes upstream. At CA Technolo- To that end, more organizations will deploy hypercon- gies, we already see huge interest in service virtual- verged or converged infrastructure solutions in 2015. It’s not ization, as much for its business impact as its IT because they can’t build their own integrated systems. It’s impact. Abstracting composite applications from because IT administrators have better use of their time. Take their environment—infrastructure, middleware, infrastructure integration off the table and suddenly we all databases, APIs and so on—will see huge growth in have more time to focus on the delivery and optimization of 2015, allowing upstream teams like dev, test and QA critical business applications. Our inner nerds will always to deliver business solutions better, faster and want to build everything, but by the time 2015 comes to an cheaper. end, more and more organizations will come to realize that Virtualization goes downstream. As Agile, simply buying pre-integrated solutions gives them more time DevOps and service virtualization accelerate for innovation and lets them spend less time on maintenance. upstream activities in application delivery, busi- IT administrators will lose their obsession with having to nesses will need to remove more bottlenecks. In 2015 build everything and, instead—like the infamous Walter we’ll see virtual approaches increasingly used by White—will obsess over speed. more downstream activities like training, marketing and support, just as we have with documentation. Andi Mann, Vice President, Virtual catches up to reality. For three days at the Offi ce of the CTO, CA Technologies recent CA World, there was a constant queue for a I hope you didn’t come here for the same “Game of Thrones” “experience” using Oculus Rift VR. old 2015 predictions: Docker kills VMware In 2015, we’ll see augmented and virtual reality (for- sales; VMware debuts a public PaaS; Docker merly the [non-exclusive] province of truly awful mov- doesn’t survive the year; Amazon launches ies) improve UX in manufacturing, real estate, health a DevOps Cloud Platform; or Docker IPOs for
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are fawning over Docker, and it’s also a key building block companies should choose the hypervisor that’s easiest to for enterprise PaaS. Of course, something this popular is deploy, has the broadest feature set and is easiest to integrate also a threat to almost every incumbent: Who needs VMs for the app they plan to virtualize. That might mean Oracle with Docker? Who needs a Linux distro? VM—yes! That might mean KVM. With such a mature market, But developers dictate the future, and what’s not to like the action moves to the app layer. Pick the VM container that about a write-once-run-anywhere developer framework? makes the app easier to deploy, manage, support and upgrade. Well, we’ve seen this movie before: Java + Security anyone? In 2015, the giddy fl ock of Docker devotees will have to start to 2. Multi-Hypervisor Management Capabilities deliver differentiated products, and Docker security will be Are Table Stakes high on their list. This is a big mistake, and they will fail. Every management tool must support multiple hypervisors— First, is there a Docker security issue? This is the wrong don’t pick one that doesn’t in 2015. Virtualization management question. The right way to phrase the question is, “Is Linux/ and cloud management are converging (or already converged, Windows secure?” We all know the answer to that question for many products), meaning your future virtualization man- already. A malicious container can easily compromise a vul- agement toolset must support multiple on-premises and cloud nerable host OS, and an already compromised host OS com- virtual machines today—not in the next release. Look for vendor tools that support other hypervisors with the same fea- 2015 will see network ture breadth they have for their own.
virtualization achieve 3. Containers Will Become a Viable Deployment significant penetration into Option for More Apps the enterprise datacenter. Docker is new, but containers aren’t. Still, the huge spike in interest in lightweight, effi cient containers as the pletely owns the container. This is no different from the failed deployment method of choice for hyper-scale Web apps experiments in sandboxing on PCs. means every virtualization vendor is either already on The Docker security challenge therefore relates to the secu- board or will be in early 2015. What does it mean? You have rity of the infrastructure that runs Docker containers. Is it another option for app deployment, more granular than a multi-tenant safe? Can your container share a Linux instance full VM. Start learning about Docker’s current strengths with containers from other customers of the cloud? Very and limitations as compared to full VMs—you’ll need to clearly the answer is no—not with any confi dence, anyway. offer them to your dev and apps teams by the end of next In 2015, the Docker acolytes will make many implausible year to keep up with your nimble cloud competitors. promises, instead of focusing on empowering developers with better tools, and leaving security to credible infra- Taneja Group Inc. structure vendors, who understand the full complexity of The analysts at Taneja Group got together and came up with application isolation. our top predictions for 2015. We believe 2015 will be a pivotal For enterprises to safely adopt Docker and operate it at scale year for the datacenter as some of the nascent technologies in private or public clouds, what’s needed is a simple extension we’ve been watching are starting to mature and become of the most robust isolation structure in computing today—the mainstream. We feel that 2015 is just a jumping off point for hypervisor. The extension is called micro-virtualization, and it the datacenter of the future, and that the datacenter of the confers on Linux, Windows or even Mac OS X an ability to next decade will bear little resemblance to today’s datacenter. instantly hardware-isolate an individual application or task. Software-defi ned (SD) will become a commonly expected The Docker ecosystem should focus on adoption of Docker feature (or available form) for most arrays, rather than con- by app developers. The hypervisor and cloud infrastructure tinue as a special separate category of storage. vendors will, in 2015, deliver technologies that make Docker SD will become less of a resource-specifi c concept and deployments safe for app developers and cloud infrastructure more of a common technology checkmark. SD will be inter- operators. preted as a broader cloud-like concept as a growing number of vendors come to claim SD capabilities simply because their Dave Bartoletti, Principal Analyst, solutions are delivered in the form of software. The original, Forrester Research Inc. fundamental idea that there be an identifi ably separate “con- 1. The App Drives the Hypervisor Choice trol” plane (that is, master application) that can dynamically This trend has already started, but it’ll be the primary way defi ne (through software APIs) and confi gure distributed server virtualization platforms are chosen in 2015. With ef- “data” plane resources (hardware, fi rmware or software) will fective parity between the leaders—VMware and Microsoft— only be a secondary concern of the vendors. Despite the obvi-
22 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com
FEATURE | 2015 Virtualization Predictions
ous value in having an open, remotely programmable infra- can exist at a cloud provider’s or customer’s premises. The structure that can be optimized by third-party intelligent scenario that merges both concepts in an effort to meet real- controllers (that might even incorporate knowledge from out- world challenges is the hybrid cloud. Most companies cannot side the system itself), we’ll continue to see completely closed fully relocate to a public cloud due to limitations, constraints, systems presented as “Software Defi ned” simply because security and compliance issues. A compromise is to leverage they come packaged as virtual appliances. the benefi ts of the public cloud, where possible, while using a Many IT folks, however, will continue to prefer buying pre- private cloud to overcome the remaining challenges. packaged stacks of integrated IT infrastructure, rather than One of the current issues of the hybrid model is that attempt to deploy pure SD solutions. This will muddy up the enterprises want a common management platform to man- defi nition of software-defi ned even further, becayse not all age their myriad compute resources, wherever they may be. converged or hyperconverged solutions are software-defi ned. Today, many of the cloud providers have proprietary inter- In any case, we feel certain that more and more datacenter faces, which makes for a diffi cult task of managing different functionality will become dynamically and elastically provi- vendors from a single console. In an effort to grow market sionable, whatever the name or form of implementation. share, cloud providers must give customers the ability to Data protection will increasingly become directly part of manage their internal (private cloud) compute with their primary storage. systems and even their competitors’ systems. Unfortunately, data protection has taken a back seat in Signs of this shift can already be seen with the recent pur- the software-defi ned datacenter. We feel that in 2015, VM- chase of Eucalyptus by HP and MetaCloud by Cisco. Both of centric and profi le-driven data protection will take its right- these acquisitions were aimed at building a management ful place in the datacenter—directly as part of the storage platform with integration hooks to other providers and pri- solution. To enable this, the storage used for data protection vate cloud networks. can no longer be a discrete component, but instead an inte- grated yet abstracted component used to protect a datacen- The Explosion of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Market ter’s most valuable component: data. Many users are moving With SaaS being a win-win for both manufacturers and its to VM-driven snapshots and replication as primary customers, the SaaS market will grow dramatically in 2015. approaches for protecting their data. Several vendors are From the manufacturer’s standpoint, hosting their soft- already offering data protection solutions integrated with ware allows them to maintain and support a single code primary storage: examples include Microsoft StorSimple, train, greatly reducing support efforts and development which combines backup, archive and DR with primary stor- costs. All support volume associated with software instal- age; and Nimble Storage. As a larger trend, we see more lation and software confl ict issues, due to local installations, hyperconverged systems and storage vendors adding also goes away. The manufacturer builds in a recurring embedded data protection features that will not require, or revenue stream and assures the newest code is always in rely on, traditional backup software. Data protection will use. This platform also allows the manufacturer to easily simply be another attribute to set when an object is being let customers try new products or modules, due to the fact created and the storage will implement these attributes. they continuously have a captive audience on their Web site. Customers also see great benefi ts in SaaS, because it typi- Marc Malizia, CTO, cally provides a lower cost than the customer hosting the RKON Technologies application internally. Customers are alleviated from the The Move to a Hybrid Model tasks and associated cost of deploying and upgrading the Cloud providers will make a big effort to applications, as well as maintaining the systems needed to support the hybrid cloud model in 2015. run the software. The ability to change license count on a Currently, there are three typical cloud monthly basis is another big advantage. deployments: public, private and hybrid cloud. The public cloud is a commodity cloud service, where customers spin Doug Hazelman, Vice up workloads at the cloud provider’s datacenter, typically President of Product Strategy, for a specifi c application. Veeam Software Little integration exists between those servers and the The Always-On Business Will Become customer’s internal compute platform hosted on-premises, the Norm Across the Globe and physical compute resources are shared across all users Immediacy will be pivotal across many lev- of the public platform. els; users will continue to demand unfettered access to appli- On the opposite side of the spectrum is the private cloud, cations and data 24x7 from wherever they’re located, and this driven by dedicated hardware on a per-customer basis, and trend will only accelerate as device innovation progresses and
24 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com Virtualize Your Datacenter “We use Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization to create our own cloud so that our developers can use it to build their own virtual machines and hence build and control environments as they wish. We have used Red Hat solutions in various parts of our business for ten years, and we are pleased to continue our long-standing relationship by deploying Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization. As developers need to create and delete environments quickly, a highly scalable solution is critical for us and this advantage then means that we don’t need to over-commit on our IT plans.”
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1 IDC 2014 Predictions: CIO Agenda - Embracing 3rd Platform Leadership Challenges as IT Transitions from Technology to Service Delivery. Dr. Ron Babin, Fred Magee, David McNally, Joseph Pucciarelli. 4 Dec 2013. Webinar.
www.redhat.com FEATURE | 2015 Virtualization Predictions
the roll-out and proliferation of higher speed networks (4G, VDI Was the Provisioning Ground; DaaS Is the Future LTE, 5G and so on) continues. Business users will have even But switching from a user-centric cost of PC and software more aggressive requirements for ubiquitous access to appli- to a thick cloud client on a user’s desktop, and then forc- cations and data than consumers. Network agility and reliabil- ing the enterprise to support the whole network, software ity will come under the spotlight as virtualization continues to and infrastructure burden of VDI is not seen as enough of a gather pace, but availability will become a strategic concern solution for many enterprises. What they’ve asked the in- to business leaders. No longer will recovery time or point ob- dustry is, “If you can move burdensome software packages jectives of hours or days be acceptable. IT will be expected to such as ERP, CRM, e-mail and collaboration to the cloud, deliver recovery time and point objectives in minutes. why can’t VDI be offered as a cloud service?” This is where Desktop as a Service (DaaS) comes into play. Data volumes will explode Enterprises want to realize the cost, manageability and secu- even further over the next rity of the cloud—for desktop virtualization. They understand that the technology exists to virtualize the user desktop; the few years. problem is they just don’t want to do it themselves. The marketplace is open to the industry players bold Data Explosion Continues to Accelerate enough to offer desktop virtualization as a cloud service. Data volumes will explode even further over the next few This should consist of a fully hosted and provisioned set of years (some commentators think to as much as 400ZB by desktops that allows enterprise users access with their 2018). Organizations will make new investments and lever- existing enterprise (read Active Directory) credentials. In age existing modern datacenters in an attempt to manage addition, the space is open for the vendors who can meet their exploding data footprint during 2015. the modern authentication/access authentication chal- lenges (for example, two-factor for PCI DSS, NCUA, FFIEC The “Internet of Things” Becomes a Reality … environment, HID/NFC for health care and HSPD-12 [CAC/ and IT Will Need to Wake up to This Fact PIV] for federal markets). IDC forecasts that the worldwide market for Internet of Things The access and desktop virtualization needs to be offered (IoT) solutions will grow from $1.9 trillion in 2013 to $7.1 trillion in a cloud package; in a bundled, quantifi ed manner that in 2020. Such is the appetite for IoT, that more than two-thirds allows the enterprise to pick, choose, and scale to both local of consumers plan to buy connected technology for their departmental and global requirements. homes by 2019, and nearly half say the same for wearable tech- nology. This rapid pace of adoption will cause IT departments New Technologies Must be Supported by DaaS Vendors immense problems over the next 12 to 24 months. Users will The move to the cloud will be driven not only by manageability expect always-on services and IT will be under scrutiny to of the cloud resources, but also by the freedom of device fl ex- deliver, and with the cost of downtime already into six fi gures ibility for the VDI platforms. Of course, support for mobile, iOS per hour, downtime in the IoT era could be far costlier. 2015 and Android will be required, but the real growth will come in will be the year where we’ll see IT step up to the plate and using thin clients as the “window” to the DaaS environment. embrace availability, or it will be the year where we’ll see The most promising looks to be the support of Chrome businesses fall on their swords. Only time will tell. extensions from all platforms. With the advancement of thin-client technology, users can choose which device they Garret Grajek, want for VDI access—including the exploding Chromebook Chief Security Offi cer, dinCoud market. Chromebook desktop access looks especially prom- In 2014 and even some of 2013, we’ve already ising, especially in the education market. seen the acceptance of hosted virtual desk- tops, seeing many advances in virtualiza- The Complete Package tion and graphics in VDI products. This was Enterprises looking to move their desktops to the cloud an important breakthrough, in helping both enterprises and should also expect cloud vendors to be able to support users alike know that virtualization of desktops can help the their storage and server requirements. The cloud vendors enterprise in key pain areas like provisioning, manageability savvy enough to meet both desktop virtualization and other and security. What the market needed to see was that VDI was traditional server and storage requirements will be situated actually workable (for example, users could actually get real correctly to take advantage of the market trends. work done on a Windows desktop through a virtual interface). 2015 will be the year for DaaS, cloud growth and adoption. Enterprise communities in various sectors are begging for a The technologies exist, but the challenge (and opportunity) more cost-effective solution to end-user desktop support; this will be for vendors to put together a complete package for has been proven with VDI. their users. VR
26 | December 2014/January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com DAN’STAKE By Dan Kusnetzky End users want access to apps regardless of whether they’re using a desktop PC, Mac, laptop, tablet or smartphone.
remote devices. Dell recommends vWorkspace for VDI: It’s All About this use case. 4. Encapsulated Apps Individual apps can be the Apps, Stupid encapsulated and loaded on PCs, Macs or laptop systems. The data can reside either on the local Dell Inc. VP and General Manager of End User Computing Steve system or back in the datacenter. IT admins can Lalla and I enjoyed a lively conversation about end users needing to manage these individual apps. This is the use access desktop and corporate apps using many different types of of application virtualization technology. Dell devices. End users want access to these apps regardless of whether suggests customers use either Citrix XenApp or they’re using a desktop PC, Mac, laptop, tablet, smartphone or VMware ThinApp to address this use case. something new that we don’t know about yet. 5. Streamed Encapsulated Apps Here are the types of delivery mechanisms Dell supports, Individual apps can be encapsulated and broken down using the Kusnetzky Group model of virtualization streamed down to PCs, Macs or laptops on (see bit.ly/1vrdYwr for more on the model). demand. The data can reside either on the 1. Full Desktop Environments Today, this usually is delivered local system or back in the datacenter. IT by loading a desktop OS on a PC or laptop, along with the admins can manage these individual apps. This necessary apps. This is the traditional approach and is familiar is also the use of application virtualization to most end users and IT. While it does offer end users the technology, but management of virtualized experience they’re used to, it poses quite a number of challenges environment tools have been added. Dell to admins in the areas of confi guration management, security, OS suggests customers use either Citrix XenApp and app updating. Little or no virtualization technology is in use or VMware ThinApp to address this use case. in this confi guration. Dell offers the Latitude or Optiplex systems 6. Remote Desktop Access Desktop or app to support this use case. images, in this type of environment, actually 2. Encapsulated Desktop Environments This is delivered execute back in the datacenter. The data they by encapsulating an entire desktop environment, including the develop or use is also back in the datacenter. IT OS and all apps and tools, and executing it on either a PC, Mac or admins manage and secure these environments. laptop system. The data being developed or used may reside on These desktop or app images can be accessed by the local system or be stored back in the datacenter. End users are the end user using a PC, Mac, laptop, or properly allowed to have their own unsecured, self-managed environments equipped tablet or smartphone. This is the use side-by-side with managed, secured enterprise environments. of access virtualization. Optionally, application The enterprise environments can be managed, secured and virtualization and processing virtualization updated by corporate IT while the personal environment can could be in use to encapsulate individual apps or be managed by the individual. Typically this means deploying desktop images. Dell offers several solutions to virtual processing software, such as VM software (also known as this set of requirements, including vWorkspace, a hypervisor) or OS virtualization and partitioning software. Dell Citrix XenDekstop or VMware Horizon View. offers Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) to support this use This is a partial list of Dell mechanisms. For case. EMM, by the way, is a product of Moka5. the complete list, see bit.ly/11kcjMj. VR 3. Streamed or Delivered Desktop Environments This type of system is given to the end user as a bare system. When the user Daniel Kusnetzky, a reformed software engineer logs in, the appropriate desktops are delivered down the network to and product manager, founded Kusnetzky Group the system. As with the encapsulated desktop environment, corporate LLC in 2006. He’s literally written the book on IT is responsible for managing the virtual environment, and the data virtualization and often comments on cloud may reside on the local system or back in the corporate datacenter. In computing, mobility and systems software. In his this case, virtual processing software is combined with management spare time, he’s also the managing partner of Lux tools for virtual environments that allow delivery of virtual images to Sonus LLC, an investment fi rm.
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vslive.com VIRTUALIZATION EVERYDAY By Rick Vanover
DRS Groups can specify that the yellow VMs must be placed on the yellow hosts in one rule with two groups (a group of hosts and a group of VMs). This saves some signifi cant clutter in the DRS properties page, compared to a single construct approach. This is especially important Follow the Rules: as hosts and VMs come and go. Making DRS Groups is easy; they’re a Using DRS Groups property of the cluster. In the vSphere Web Client, it’s a setting that can easily be made and If you’re using vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), you’ll edited. Note that the name of the group can’t eventually get to a point where you need to set some rules. Rules be changed after it’s created, but the containing for doing things such as keeping VMs together, keeping VMs off of objects (VMs or hosts) can be modifi ed. a particular host or even keeping VMs separated. The DRS rules are Note that DRS Groups work with vSphere a great way to set some preferences for how your virtualized datacenter Figure 2. The runs, but they can get a little Distributed complicated. Resource When it comes to scaling the Scheduler rules, it’s an easy task; but keeping Groups UI. a cluster clean and organized is a challenge. Before vSphere 5.1, DRS rules were focused on two object types: hosts and VMs. Thus, a rule can apply to multiple VMs and possibly multiple hosts, causing a situation that spirals out of control. Specifi cally, there can be a situation where a rule prevents DRS from balancing out the Client for Windows. Figure 2 shows a DRS cluster. Since vSphere 5.1, the concept of a DRS Group Manager Group. has been introduced to help with this situation. Consider, for example, An important thing to remember is that Figure 1. even with DRS Groups in place, VMware High This cluster may be a multi-tiered application, the development Availability will not be inhibited by these rules. systems, or the most important VMs in the cluster; it can be any My good friend Frank Denneman has more on logical collection. that in his blog at bit.ly/1t1ERkV. The DRS Group is a great way to keep a vSphere cluster clean, while VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM still maintaining the right rules structure VR VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM VM Rick Vanover (vExpert, VCP, MCITP) is a software strategy specialist for Veeam Software based in Columbus, Ohio. His areas of expertise include virtualization, servers, storage and Windows systems.
Figure 1. ESXi Host ESXi Host ESXi Host A sample situation that would be helped by the use of Distributed Resource Scheduler Groups.
30 | December 2014 / January 2015 | Virtualization Review | VirtualizationReview.com POWERING THE NEW IT GENERATION
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Like: Facebook.com/VirtualizationReview SHUTTERSTOCK . gure out how to do rm Taneja Group. rm Taneja Simple storage. Don’tgo looking for complicated storage policies because an HC3 system offers only one: mirrored data, striped aswidely as possible. I tested the storage and found it more than adequatefor the tasks ranI against it. Take snapshots like you’re on vacation. HC3 supports more than 5,000 snapshots per VM. They use very little overhead, and can be deleted in a matter of moments, no matter how large they are. Send in the Clones. An HC3 cluster uses linked clones by default, so a VM clone won’t take up any space until data has changed. Since it takes mere moments to create a clone, use them rather than installing from scratch, when possible. You’ll save time and storage space. Swift support.Swift Scale Computing has a world-class U.S.-based support staff knowledgeable extremely an with organization If you have an issue or can’t quite fi something, drop them a line. It worked for me: I had an issue and called support. Within three minutes, I had a again. running and up was and workaround TAKE TAKE TAKE 3 4 2 TAKE FIVE 5 Hyperconvergence appliances like the HC3 are gaining in popularity. popularity. in gaining are HC3 the like appliances Hyperconvergence Group hug. Group your time fooling around with hardware compatibility lists and multiple multiple and lists compatibility hardware with around fooling time your datacentervendors infrastructure; your build to instead, embrace the appliance. scale-out functionality. If you have a small deployment, don’t waste They’re designed to be easy to set up and quick to use, while providing providing while use, to quick and up set to easy be to designed They’re Bonus Take! | VirtualizationReview.com | TAKE took it guration, Scale Computing Scale Virtualization Review Virtualization Tom Fenton a senior is validationTom engineer and lab analyst with IT analyst fi
Quick and easy setup. easy and Quick has worked hard to make its systems as easy to work with and as quick to set up as practical. The company has done good a job with it. should You be able to set up a four-node cluster in less half an hour; that minutes instantiate to VM.ve a
ve impressions. includes the removing packaging and racking the system. After installation and confi another fi another Scale Computing has sold more than 900 HC3 appliances and was an early implementer of hyperconvergence systems. The company builds and maintains its own software stack, based on a KVM hypervisor with VM-centric storage and a built-in management system. Its market is small to midsize businesses that don’t have (SMBs) the desire or expertise to support and operate a virtualizationcomplicated solution. I had the opportunity to go out to Indianapolis, Ind., and work with a true hyperconvergence appliance: the Scale ComputingHC3 system. After working with if for a while, I wanted to share my fi top TAKE
| December / January 2014 2015 | 1 32 Tips for a Tips for Hyperconverged Appliance the Is Scale Computing all-in-one HC3 virtualization box a good choice for a small midsize to business? Fenton Tom YOU :: By WITH TO TAKE TRICKS 5 TIPS AND Only a real friend will help you move.
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