The industry reflects, looks ahead

Jim Lenox, Asia South general manager, VMware

	Jim Lenox, VMware
	Regardless of whether there is a recession, organizations should leverage the benefits of virtualization to aggregate multiple servers, storage infrastructure and networks together into shared pools of capacity that can be allocated dynamically, securely and reliably to applications as needed to increase their hardware utilization and to reduce their IT costs.

Q. Gartner issued a report warning IT heads to prepare a recession budget. What is your view?
Lenox: VMware was actually born around the time of the dot-com business downturn, and we certainly ramped our business during its bleakest periods. So while nobody wants to see a recession, our offering is very compelling for organizations that are tightening their belts. Few IT technologies can provide large cost savings as quickly as VMware and the core value of virtualization doing more with the computing resources you have in place. Today we have more than 20,000 VMware customers of all sizes across all industries benefiting from substantially lower IT costs, choice of operating systems and a more automated and resilient system infrastructure capable of responding to variable business demands.

Most of our customers such as NTUC and Republic Polytechnic have experienced a return on investment in investment within six to nine months after implementing VMware Infrastructure in their IT environment.

Again, regardless of whether there is a recession, organizations should leverage the benefits of virtualization to aggregate multiple servers, storage infrastructure and networks together into shared pools of capacity that can be allocated dynamically, securely and reliably to applications as needed to increase their hardware utilization and to reduce their IT costs.

Moving ahead in 2008

 

 

1.	Socializing goes big in 2008
2.	The urge to merge in 2008
3.	New chips on the block
4.	Web threats dominate security landscape
5.	Battle for the mobile platform space in 2008
6.	The industry reflects, looks ahead

Looking back on 2007

 

 

1.	Looking back at 2007 with envy
2.	Predictions that went right and wrong
3.	2007's movers and shakers

Name three hot technologies to watch in 2008.
Server virtualization will be hot, of course. The fact is that energy costs are skyrocketing and computing world is about to move into a new era where data center service charges will be based more on power usage and less on servers, storage or bandwidth, which are in plentiful supply. Thus, power consumption will be the strongest driver for virtualization solutions that enable the most power-efficient services. A side effect of this will be the reduction in carbon emissions due to computing.

The second hot technology to watch will be with the virtualization of the enterprise desktop. While enterprises evaluate alternative strategies for hosting the desktop in the data center, virtualization is always considered as part of the solution to keep costs in line and ease management of virtualized workstations.

Finally, 2008 will see more automation technologies deployed to manage increasingly complex data center infrastructures, again with the goal of better efficiency. One example is by using a technology that VMware calls dynamic resource scheduling or DRS that allows data center managers to consolidate loads to fewer servers during non-peak hours and power down inactive servers. Automation technologies will also allow data center subsystems to go into a reduced capacity mode by scaling down CPU frequency or powering down unused memory banks. Another trend is in the linking of server monitoring with air-conditioning systems in order to balance power, cooling and performance needs.

What is the biggest myth about virtualization?
That it is a highly complex technology to deploy. For example, with VMware Infrastructure 3.5 (VI3.5), 99 percent of the administration is done through a Windows-based GUI management platform. In addition, installing the virtualization core, called ESX Server in VMware's case, takes about 9-10 minutes manually or 3 to 4 minutes once scripted. In fact installing ESX Server is faster and simpler than installing a Windows server. Ironically, our install base tells us that simplicity and flexibility are the biggest reasons for virtualizing, so the myth loses steam with experienced users and with the ongoing rapid rates of adoption.

We will continue to see virtualization adoption rates grow. IDC forecasts that the number of servers used to run virtual machines will increase significantly from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, 1.7 million physical servers will be shipped to run virtual machines--14.6 percent of the total shipments compared with 4.5 percent in 2005, according to IDC.

What do you remember as the biggest industry news for 2007, and why?
Without a doubt, the biggest industry news for 2007 was the IPO of VMware in August. It was the biggest tech stock IPO since Google and the share price shot up 76 percent on the first day of trading. This raised more than US$950 million for VMware. As a result of our IPO, the market now counts VMware among the five most valuable software companies in the world.

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