Blade Watch

TechTarget.com

If IBM finally does buy Sun Microsystems, the computing giant will have a load of different virtualization technologies to comb over: VirtualBox, xVM, Solaris Containers and, last but not least, Logical Domains (LDoms).

But because LDom virtualization is a feature of Sun UltraSparc-based CoolThreads servers, its future is in jeopardy, said Gordon Haff, a principal analyst at Illuminata Inc. Sun Sparc competes with IBM’s Power processor, and LDoms are “roughly analogous” to Power’s dynamic logical partitioning (DLPAR), he said. “It’s possible Sparc could be a casualty [of the acquisition], because that’s an area [in which] IBM already has a big investment. It’s hard to imagine IBM continuing Sparc.”

That said, even if IBM does decide to phase out Sparc, “it won’t happen overnight,” and the company will do what it takes to move the platform gracefully over to IBM, Haff added, if only “because they want to tap into those customers.”

At the same time, LDoms may be one of the features that helps Sun customers extend the useful life of their Sparc systems regardless of the vendor’s status. For example, Eagle Investment Systems in Newton, Mass. plans to deploy between 60 and 80 new Solaris instances within LDoms on existing hardware this year, said Mike Fitzgerald, vice president, helping to meet its goal of maintaining its data center footprint at 7,000 square feet.

A great article talking about the ongoing transaction/reported transaction between IBM and Sun.

Sun represents a great business in terms of it’s product line, its exposure and it’s open source activities in the market place. It will be interesting to see if a deal does go forward, what changes will be made and opportunities for revenue generation and innovation created.

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