Chuck's Blog

VMware Management Takes A Big Step Forward ...

The headlines reads: "VMware To Acquire Certain IT Management Products and Software Expertise from EMC Corporation".

People will perceive this story one of two ways, depending on their perspective.

The first (and most common) perspective will be "so what?"

The second (and less frequent) perspective will be "this might be a big deal ..."

And I'd like a chance to share why I think this is more of the latter, and less of the former.

Towards Virtual Storage

Virtualization concepts have changed forever how we think about servers and compute.  What was once a handy tactical tool to squeeze more efficiency from servers has become the strategic foundation for tomorrow's cloud.

But virtualization concepts aren't limited to servers -- they also will make a powerful impact in the storage domain as well.  And -- when considered alongside server virtualization -- the resulting potential for builders and users of enterprise IT is nothing short of spectacular.

The Cool Magic of AIM

Yes, I'm going to throw a new term at you -- it's Application Image Management, or AIM. 

Before you scream “buzzword alert!”, take a moment and hear me out, please.

For quite a while, we've understood the potential to transform how application images are defined, managed and delivered in a radically optimized fashion.

And today, EMC is announcing the acquisition of exceptionally intriguing technology that cuts across multiple disciplines and delivers some eye-popping benefits.

How does the potential of running 3x-6x more virtual machines on the exact same hardware grab you?

Reconsidering Storage As A Service

Yes, many people have tread this ground over the years, but I'd argue it's time for a re-definition of the term.

Properly framed, it can provoke a mindset that transcends historical thinking, and might help pave the way for storage architects out there who are looking for new ways to frame the discussion with their teams to move the ball forward.

You be the judge.

Press and Analysts React To Private Cloud

I've worked with the press and analyst community for many years. 

Say what you will, but I've found them a very good barometer of what ideas will fly, and which ones won't. 

Sure, they don't actually buy IT products.  But they do get exposed to just about every IT pitch in the world, and they usually have a good nose for what's going to be a popular discussion, and what won't.

I've now had a few outings where I've had an opportunity to share private cloud concepts with these folks -- and how VMware, Cisco and EMC are working together to accelerate this vision.

The reactions have been mostly favorable, but with a few interesting wrinkles here and there.

Backup and The Private Cloud

OK, so I'm on a theme here. 

The concepts around private clouds have been introduced and discussed, and there are even a few large enterprises who have declared they're building one.

I'm now very interested in looking at the operational impact -- going from IT topic to IT topic -- and seeing how familiar discussions change radically -- and for the better -- when thinking about private clouds. 

The last post was about securing the private cloud; this one's about backup.

And, as we'll see, how we think about something as familiar (and essential) as backup might be up for some wonderful re-thinking in this world.

Accelerating Virtualization And The Private Cloud

I really haven't met anyone recently who thinks that virtualizing as much of their environment as possible isn't a good idea -- at least in the abstract.

I mean, if you're a career IT person, it's a pretty attractive prospect.

Sure, there are issues, challenges and concerns.  If doing this was easy, everyone would be doing it already, right?

This specific discussion comes up when I'm discussing private clouds with an enterprise customer.

Generally speaking, they like what they see, and ask how they should get started.

The inevitable response?  You've got to get busy virtualizing as much of your environment as you can.  The sooner, the better.

So, what's holding you back?

And that can lead to some interesting responses.

Securing The Private Cloud

So much to write about, so little time. 

I guess I'm going to have to think carefully about the topics I write about going forward -- I could easily spend every day doing nothing but blog posts on interesting topics.  Sure, that'd be fun, but my day job would seriously suffer.

A few interesting announcements last week that we can correlate:

• VMware's vSphere announcement -- all about the private cloud
• The Jericho Forum issued their best practices around secure cloud computing
• VMware and RSA made an interesting announcement as part of last week's RSA Conference

Put it all together?

It's all about securing the private cloud ...

Cisco and HP Square Off In Server Land

We all enjoy it when vendors face off on key technologies -- like next-generation server architectures. 

Not only is it fun to watch, but intense competitive pressures are good for customers and good for the industry.  And we've only seen the first few salvos in what should prove to be a sustained battle for data center supremacy

Now, my biases should be clear (rooting for Cisco!) -- but, with the latest round of HP announcements, you can begin to see some very distinct differences in architectural thinking between the two companies.

vSphere as an I/O Engine

As more and more people consider bigger and bigger workloads running in virtual containers, the discussion inevitably turns to I/O throughput and latency.

Now, VMware is no slouch at driving big I/O workloads.  I shared one proof-point discussion from testing done last year in this regard on a previous post.

But today, VMware took a big leap forward in this regard with EMC's announcement of PowerPath/VE.

So, why should you care?