Bladewatch.com

QLogic have released new Fibre Channel over Ethernet adapters for IBM HS22 blade servers which could be ideal for that virtualization or hpc solutions or where you wish to unify the network and storage down the one pipe. If we deployed FCoE with energy efficient blades on a virtualization project to replace existing hardware we might realize impressive results. I’m off to read up more, the article is below:

QLogic Single Chip Converged Network Adapters Power New IBM FCoE-enabled Blade Servers

QLogic CNAs and 10Gb CEE Pass-Thru Modules Integrated in Next Generation IBM HS22 Blade Servers; IBM Puts Enterprise Weight Behind FCoE

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., May 26, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Continuing to execute along a fast-paced trajectory to expand its industry lead in intelligent converged networking technologies, QLogic Corp. (Nasdaq:QLGC), a leading supplier of high performance network infrastructure solutions, today announced IBM (NYSE:IBM) is the first tier-one system vendor to integrate QLogic’s new single chip 8100 Series converged network adapters (CNAs) for native Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) connectivity in IBM’s mainstream server portfolio.

Specifically, IBM will offer native FCoE connectivity on all IBM rack and tower series servers, including the new Intel Xeon 5500 “Nehalem”-powered BladeCenter and System x offerings, providing the latest in enterprise data center connectivity options to its customers while significantly lowering power consumption and heat dissipation across the enterprise. Optimized for blade servers and high-density storage systems, the QLogic 8100 Series CNAs support simultaneous storage and data networking traffic at full 10GbE line speeds, consume only one third the power of existing CNA chip sets and are the only CNAs on the market to completely eliminate the need for a heat sink. With today’s announcement, IBM is enabling customers to leverage the ubiquity and economics of Ethernet while preserving the investment and strengths of Fibre Channel.

“In a period of less than 60 days, QLogic announced the availability of a next generation, single chip CNA and announced a tier one server design win, further capitalizing on its first mover advantage in delivering production-ready FCoE technology,” said Bob Laliberte, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “As the FCoE market develops, securing key vendor design wins and go-to-market channels will be critical to establishing market leadership and accelerating adoption of FCoE technology. As evidenced by this announcement, QLogic is setting the pace.”

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I was interviewing one of the AtoV consultants about a VMware project that had gone wrong and it was fascinating to read what issues it was that they had, and how they were resolved.

The key issues were:

• Inadequate capacity – resulting in poor performance or perception of performance which is just as important
• Lack of a unified voice – three different groups that supported the ‘VMware’ infrastructure, comprising Linux/Windows and the ESX part
• Requirement for processes definition and acceptance – every time a user requested a virtual machine there was a different work-flow to follow or no work-flow resulting in calls going into the IT function somewhere
• No clean-up strategy – a server might get virtualized but the hardware re-used without accountability – the organization now had hundreds of virtual machines with a similar number of physical servers – 4 physical servers had been removed as they were below spec.
• Ineffective standards on what a virtual machine would be with concepts of marginal cost and benefit.
• No project drive to actively and retrospectively virtualize hardware – strategy was going forward, not addressing the existing server estate resulting in many servers being ruled out of scope
• No overriding strategy linked to business need – this is where we need to be, and this is how we’re going to do it
• Too much business override concepts – one application team had negotitated that they were out of scope – this gave voice to others saying the same thing, resulting in few teams really using it as they should

These issues resulted in:

• Poor perception of VMware and virtualization
  • The technology and standards were restrictive – the machine specifications supported were set
  • The end user community lacked knowledge and support of the platform
  • The IT had a luke warm perception of the technology (or the way they did it)

• Poor delivery and user feedback
  • Building a virtual machine took too long – it might take a few days for a virtual machine to get built
  • The roll back functionality within virtualization was not enabled and there was no process to manage it if it was – so no roll back benefit of the platform
  • The specifications allocated to a virtual machine were not aligned to the operating system or user requirements
  • The platform was olden days in configuration with no disaster recovery or failover scenario
• Lack of investment and the organization contemplating a new data center and hardware refresh project at massive cost

What did AtoV suggest and deliver?

A range of process, best practice and some open source applications to create:

• A small/medium/large virtual configuration per operating system supported
• A definition of what was in and out of scope for the virtualization project – with illustration of support from senior business teams
• A user interface and vehicle to directly talk to the virtualization team and stakeholders illustrating backing of the platform
• Organization based best practice about virtualization, service delivery identifying a virtualization voice
• A virtualization overview to discuss project priorities, to move from where they were to the next generation platform

The results, a project which virtualized all x86 hardware older than HP Proliant G4, resulting in a project with aims of virtualizing 85% of the x86 server estate excluding specific roles and applications. A unified voice for virtualization project which encompassed the target, virtualization, migration and decommission of each system targetted – project success defined by hardware decommission and acceptance of the business unit on their virtual machine.

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We’ve done some work here at bladewatch to improve the site, (hence the clean new look), the content remains the same as does the commentary, with some updated ways of getting in touch.

You may notice the logo Atov. AtoV are a consultancy that specialize in service delivery with a focus on end user perception. They offer a number of services, best practice and processes which can help service delivery from when the user clicks submit to the way IT handles and responds to the call.

I was interviewing one of their consultants about a VMware project that had gone wrong and it was fascinating to read what issues it was that they had, and how they were resolved.

I’ve been talking with them over the last few months about their numerous case studies, what steps they’ve taken to improve delivery and it’s been very interesting. As ever, the sponsorship in no way affects the content, except for this post and a simple thank you to the guys over at AtoV for taking part in the blog, in the community that is IT.

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IBM has announced it has signed a contract to supply business process outsourcing services, more and more we’re seeing business use outsourcing as a vehicle to reduce costs, imrpove service or as a vehicle for them to focus on their core business and have someone delivery their back office activities.

I wonder how we’ll see elements of the IT develop in this context? Would the concept of virtual clouds be the ‘vehicle’ we can use to outsource elements of the IT infrastructure, the concepts that a business guy had said, “…get someone else to do the boring stuff, have IT focus on delivery and strategy…”.

The interesting thing with this is the opportunities it creates, both in terms of the actual delivery of the service, coupled with the concept of ongoing service improvement which is needed as part of the support function, related to this I wonder is how often it can be a vehicle to get investment where it wasn’t previously available? See the announcement below:

ARMONK, N.Y. – 20 May 2009: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has signed a seven-year, $11.3 million business process outsourcing services agreement with Lam Research Corporation, a major supplier of semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment and services.

Through the agreement, IBM will continue to provide Lam Research with Accounts Payable, Cash Receipt Applications, Systems Invoicing, Payroll Administration, General Accounting and Account Reconciliation services. Key to IBM being selected for this deal was its successful history with Lam Research in delivering quality services at a competitive price.

“IBM provides a well-rounded, cost effective global solution that aligns closely with our business goals,” said John Theler, Lam Research’s corporate controller.

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Infoworld

VMware vSphere 4, out today, is a big release, with plenty of new features and changes, but it’s not your run-of-the-mill major update. The new features, which range from VM clustering to agentless VM backup, are especially significant in that they may mark the moment when virtualization shifted from the effort to provide a stable replica of a traditional infrastructure to significantly enhancing the capabilities of a virtual environment.

In short, if you’re running a VMware infrastructure, life should get easier. For anyone who’s ever tried to provide rock-solid OS-based clustering services, the new VM clustering feature, called Fault Tolerance, should be a vast improvement. Hot Add of CPUs and RAM has never really been an option for most shops, but it suddenly is (with the right OS, of course). These moves show that VMware is still pushing the virtualization envelope.

An interesting article talking about VMware’s vSphere 4, covering the product features and possibilities, do check it out. I’m excited to see what possibilities technically and operationally vSphere 4 will bring.

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Information Week

Is Cisco Looking To Acquire Citrix For Virtualization Play?

Posted by Bob Evans on May 21, 2009 09:09 AM

With cloud computing going mainstream and virtualization a core element in IT strategy, Cisco could be interested in acquiring virtualization stalwart Citrix, say the folks at Motley Fool. And in a time when Cisco is warming to the “unified” approach, a Citrix buy would give Cisco the ability “to build an entire data center on its own platforms.”

Citrix gained instant virtualization chops almost two years ago with with its $500 million acquisition of XenSource, which supplies the Xen open-source hypervisor. And earlier this year, Citrix deepened its credentials in the virtualization market by becoming a strategic investor in desktop-hypervisor startup Virtual Computer.

Here’s how Motley Fool’s Anders Bylund outlines the Cisco-buys-Citrix virtualization scenario in the context of Oracle’s recent acquisitions of Sun and Virtual Iron:

An interesting article, buying Citrix would be a fantastic move for Cisco and would really open up new possibilities in virtualization and infrastructure transformation. Being able to optimize at the network and application layer might create further opportunities in bandwidth efficiency and in remote working, not to mention desktop virtualization?

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Earth Times

FREMONT, CA — 05/27/09 — 3PAR® (NYSE: PAR), the leading global provider of utility storage, announced today that this month marks the company’s 10th anniversary. After beginning operations in May of 1999, the company went on to commercially launch its highly virtualized 3PAR Utility Storage platform and proprietary 3PAR Thin Provisioning software in 2002. These innovations have since earned the utility storage provider a reputation as a thin and green technology pioneer. Last year, 3PAR followed on its thin technology innovations with the introduction of the 3PAR InServ® T-Class Storage Server, which established 3PAR as the first storage vendor to commercially ship an efficient “fat-to-thin” volume conversion mechanism into storage array hardware.

Congratulations to 3PAR for it’s anniversary, may the innovation continue, anything we can do to further opportunities and functionality for the end user community has to be a good thing for the end user and industry alike.

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BLADE Network Technologies 

10 Reasons Why Cisco’s Unified Computing Strategy Will Get Push Back From Customers

Cisco’s so-called “Unified Computing” strategy holds vast and arguably adverse implications, as a way to lock customers into a proprietary world while locking out vendors like HP and IBM that are trusted open systems suppliers to enterprises around the world.  For the past few months, I’ve been pointing this out through my blog and various media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Network World, and Investors Business Daily. Upon considering what’s known of Cisco’s “California” server, Unified Computing initiative and Unified Fabric architecture, I believe there are at least 10 good reasons why Cisco’s proprietary version of data center computing won’t fly.

There has been a range of reactions from different vendors about Cisco’s recent announcements about their Unified Computing strategy. Regardless of your view, having the option has to be a good thing for the end user community in terms of choice, and knowing what we can achieve with the right range of products, for competition in innovation between the vendors. Choose the right solution for your business, everything else, is just noise, if it’s Cisco that works for you, then it’s Cisco that it shall be, an interesting read though.

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HP

HP today extended its Mission Critical Partnership services offering to help chief information officers improve infrastructure quality, agility and costs while managing risk.

HP Mission Critical Partnership now covers a full spectrum of systems at a variety of prices, while maintaining world-class levels of service. Customers can tailor support levels to meet the varying needs of their businesses. If an unplanned outage occurs, customers are assured of a critical-level response across the whole technology environment.

In addition, under the new offering, a single point of accountability is designated within a team of experts to rapidly resolve critical incidents and ensure that business objectives are consistently achieved.

“With the deployment of industry-standard servers and virtualization in mission-critical environments, there needs to be a renewed focus on streamlining processes and updating the skills of technology experts,” said Michelle Weiss, vice president, Worldwide Marketing, Technology Services, HP. “The new Mission Critical Partnership addresses these changes by offering customers specifically trained mission-critical professionals and enhanced services that align to new technologies such as virtualization and blades.”

Maintaining mission critical services can be the cost between earning revenue and reporting a loss, anything the vendors can do to aid in system management and availability has to be a good thing, having a single point of contact could be a real value add for mission critical clients. I’m off to read up more.

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Trading Markets

May 21, 2009 (NORDIC BUSINESS REPORT via COMTEX) Information technology company IBM and Ferrosan A/S, an international consumer and healthcare company based in Denmark, on Wednesday (20 May) announced the signing of a seven-year strategic outsourcing agreement.

Under the agreement IBM will manage Ferrosan’s information technology (IT) infrastructure.

IBM said that it will provide Ferrosan with a flexible solution for significant cost savings and will enable Ferrosan to continue to grow and strengthen its position in the healthcare market.

The agreement includes a private cloud infrastructure for Ferrosan’s entire IT operations comprising of virtual and physical IBM Power Systems and System x servers, associated software, network, storage and back-up services.

Outsourcing elements of the IT function can deliver real benefits, this article illustrates a healthcare company signing an agreement with IBM to do this with some interesting points including a cloud solution, very cool.

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