Startup takes aim at multi-hypervisor management

HotLink lets users manage Hyper-V, KVM, XenServer and other hypervisors all from VMware's vCenter management console

An updated version of software from startup HotLink aims to ease the management of multi-hypervisor environments, as well as provision off-premises resources, like VMs from Amazon's cloud, all from VMware's vCenter management console.

The software aims to help organizations tasked with having to separately manage resources running on different hypervisors. The HotLink SuperVisor controls workloads running on hypervisors such as VMware's ESX, Red Hat's Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM), Citrix's XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V -- all centrally managed using VMware vCenter.

While there are a variety of cloud automation and hypervisor management tools, some experts say the level of integration HotLink has with VMware, including the ability to not just deploy resources, but also migrate workloads between various hypervisors, sets this startup apart from other management tools.

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HotLink works by having an agent sit within a cluster of whatever hypervisors are being managed, and converts them into vCenter-like images so they can be managed centrally. This allows vCenter to control not just VMware resources, but also Hyper-V, KVM or XenServer apps. HotLink Hybrid Express extends the capability to manage public cloud resources.

Harzog says this has wide applicability in the enterprise. Companies today tier their hypervisors; they may reserve expensive VMware licenses for high-performance and mission-critical virtualized applications, for example. Less expensive Hyper-V or free, open source KVM hypervisors are used for ancillary functions or by individual business units within the enterprise.

Hotlink has various pricing options, including a free version of the Hotlink Supervisor, which supports smaller environments of 15 virtual machines or less across VMware and one other hypervisor. A standard version starts at $26,700.

Co-founders LeBlanc and Richard Offer, who is chief scientist at HotLink, had a previous startup named FastScale Technology that VMware bought. They founded HotLink in early 2010 and have since received $10 million in venture backing; the initial version of the SuperVisor launched in 2011.

Network World staff writer Brandon Butler covers cloud computing and social collaboration. He can be reached at BButler@nww.com and found on Twitter at @BButlerNWW.

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