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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Special Features:
VIRTUALIZATION BECOMES FOCUS OF
COMPUTER BUSINESS INDUSTRY
IBM's Silicon Valley Laboratory, located in Coyote Valley outside San Jose,
Calif., is attempting to make networked, Intel-type computers behave much like
older mainframe computers. By combining various computer resources and
treating them as one large machine, companies may help to push low-cost
servers into segments currently dominated by huge, expensive machines. The
idea is referred to as virtualization.
The Silicon Valley Lab unveiled the first of its planned "Centers of
Competency" for its On-Demand plan. Virtualization is a very important part of
this strategy.
Virtualization could revamp the way IT business is done today.
Technological
spending risks are diminished, which lets users add more capacity as it is
needed. The guesswork is virtually eliminated.
IBM will use the process through the WebSphere software platform. It is
hoped
that only minor tweaks will be necessary for WebSphere-ready software to
benefit from virtualization. Virtualization is similar in concept to IBM's
grid-computing, which links systems across large networks.
Hewlett-Packard, with its Adaptive Enterprise effort, and Sun, with its N1
umbrella, are also adopting the ideas of virtualization.
The systems involved can shift computing power and storage between units as
needed. If more power is needed, another computer just needs to be hooked up
to the network.
When usage levels peak, dormant servers can share the load and hardware
will
work at a more optimum level.
Experts believe virtualization could diminish business costs by 15-25
percent
by 2008.
HP expects the market for virtualization software to hit $3 billion within
the
next four years.
Cigna Corp, for instance, is applying IBM virtualization to its 33
applications including billing and voice-response phone systems. Cigna can
thus eliminate the extra software licenses that sat on idle servers.
The visualization idea was enhanced earlier this month with HP's Client
Consolidation Infrastructure, which connects blade-type servers that imitate
desktop PC functions. Users, hooked up to the blade server assigned to them,
shouldn't be able to tell the difference if they use a different one later
when they log back in to the system. This gives users the ability to log in
from just about anywhere, on-site or off.
In addition, HP launched an updated version of its Virtual Server platform
for
BEA's Weblogic and Oracle's database software.
Sun touted its N1 package stating that over 110 customers are using it in
some
way, including DaimlerChrysler AG, Verisign, and Samsung. While similar to IBM
and HP in its approaches, Sun claims a unique technique where customers easily
solve their own problems, as opposed to a team of consultants.
Sun has a smaller services business than its rivals, focusing on hardware
sales.
IBM says its virtualization effort is broader than Sun's or HP's with
thousands of customers running actual applications.
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