This is the final Servers Newsletter. As my editors have noted, you will continue receiving server-related information through the Data Center Alert newsletter that is mailed out on Tuesdays.
We’ve talked a lot about virtualization in this newsletter. There is no denying that those organizations not yet plotting their virtualization strategy likely will be left at a disadvantage. I wrote a newsletter a few weeks ago pointing out a good article by Denise Dubie that talked about a list of questions IT managers need to ask before pushing ahead full throttle into any virtualization project.
Earlier this month, IBM announced an overhaul of its System i division that resulted in the blending of System i sales with System p sales in two distinct units: the Business Systems Unit, focused on small and midsize businesses, and the Power Systems Unit, focused on the enterprise.
What follows is the conclusion of my talk with Stephen Bakerman, IT manager at Owen Bird, a law firm in Vancouver, British Columbia. In this newsletter, Bakerman talks in more specifics about Virtual Iron and why the law firm is using Virtual Iron’s technology to reach its virtualization goals. Read Part 1 of the interview here.
This summer, I’ve been talking with some organizations that have decided to reach out beyond VMware as they deploy virtualization in their data centers. Probably not surprisingly, the journey into x86 server virtualization typically starts with VMware. But with competitors such as Microsoft, SWsoft, Virtual Iron and XenSource revving things up with their offerings, it’s no wonder that non-VMware approaches are getting a closer look. You can read my previous interviews with the the National Association of Home Builders here, and with the Saugus Union School District in California here.
In May, IBM took the wraps off of its Power6 processor, rolling out systems based on the chip that Big Blue claimed was more powerful and less power hungry than any Power processor before. The chip offers better energy management and virtualization capabilities. I wrote a bit about the Power6 processor when it was first introduced. You can read that newsletter here.
VMware is likely feeling at least a little bit more competitive pressure this year, now that companies are getting more familiar with x86 server virtualization and with VMware’s competitors. Check out some of the discussions I’ve had with organizations slicing their x86 boxes with technology other than VMware here and here.
Sun is becoming very interesting to watch. The company that was still struggling just a year ago seems to be making strides again. Chalk one up to Sun for saying that it will open source the clustering software for its operating system.
Late last month, AMD said that, yes, it would indeed start shipping its long-awaited quad-core Barcelona Opteron processors in August. Times definitely are good for server buyers, with Intel saying that it, too, would be shipping new products in August. Media reports quote Intel as saying it will have a faster, more energy efficient quad-core Xeon processor ready next month, as well. Intel already has shipped more than a million quad-core Xeons since introducing them last November.
My former colleague Deni Connor, who also was the previous author of this newsletter, and I wrote quite a bit about power and energy concerns in data centers during my time at Network World. Read one of our more recent pieces about ongoing energy initiatives here http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/100906-power-energy.html.
The Top500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers http://www.top500.org/lists/2007/06 was released June 23 and the list reflects how high performance computing is changing. Once reserved for the most complex of computing problems, HPC is now finding its way into more corporate data centers to handle tasks such as risk analysis. The reason is that this extreme computing power is becoming more affordable.
What follows is the continuation of the edited transcript of my talk with John Yanekian, director of network services at the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C. The NAHB has been running SWsoft in production for the past year and a half. In this part, Yanekian talks more about the features and advantages of Virtuozzo, SWsoft’s x86 server virtualization software.
A few weeks ago, I began a series that puts the spotlight on enterprise users who are virtualizing x86 servers, but with technology other than VMware. There is no denying that VMware remains the dominant force in the x86 virtualization market, but this really is the year when alternatives to VMware will start getting more attention.
Power and cooling continue to be big issues as systems become smaller and more powerful, so I’d guess that most data center managers are looking for easy, effective ways to keep tabs on power demands and cooling needs.
Blade servers are no longer on the bleeding edge, but there continues to be a lot of debate about when and where the slimmed-down servers make sense. It seems they’re starting to make sense in a lot more situations. Last week, I wrote about Sun rolling out a bunch of new blades, which it hopes will help it gain a footing in the growing market. Today, HP and IBM lead in blade server sales.
I’m curious: how many of you readers run Apple hardware in your organizations? During the time I was covering servers for Network World I wrote a handful of stories about Apple and no matter what I wrote about, one thing stayed the same. I got tons of e-mails from die-hard Apple devotees thanking me for writing the article, but complaining that we at Network World didn’t write enough about Apple.
Blade server sales may be a small percentage of overall server revenue today, but the market for the compact, module systems is set to take off. So it’s not surprising to see Sun trying to jumpstart its blade business with a handful of blades launched last week.
What follows is the continuation of my talk with Jim Klein, director of information services and technology for the Saugus Union School District in California. In this newsletter, we focus more on how the district has deployed the open source hypervisor.
With x86 server virtualization maturing and competitors to VMware becoming stronger, I figured it was time to talk with some real-world users of server-slicing technology beyond VMware.
I first spoke with Open Source Systems last year when the company was called Open Source Storage. It has since changed its name to better reflect its focus on servers, as well as storage hardware. But its basic philosophy remains the same: to let buyers custom design industry standard-based systems optimized for open source deployments.
While Unix may not be growing as fast as other segments of the market, it accounts for nearly a third of all server shipments. In its latest Quarterly Server Tracker, IDC says that Unix revenue grew just 0.5% in the first quarter of 2007, compared to the same quarter a year ago, but it also noted that Unix sales reached $4 billion for the quarter, a good chunk of the $12.4 billion in overall server sales.
Today, more reader input, this time on my newsletter regarding multi-core systems. Several readers wrote to tell me that, yes, the move to multi-core platforms obviously is inevitable, but there remain several wrinkles. Those include issues about reliability, security and I/O throughput with more workloads being put onto single boxes.
I got quite a few responses to the newsletter I wrote earlier this month talking about the goings-on at Dell. Not surprisingly, a lot of the reaction was pretty negative regarding Dell and its services and support – an area where Dell has been struggling. But readers didn’t completely write off the company, either.
While sales of blade servers continue to rise, there remains debate over the efficiency of these slim systems in various data center settings. I think it’s safe to say that if you’re going to deploy more than just a handful of blades you’ll be getting your money’s worth, especially with blade servers becoming more powerful and more energy efficient.
