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Parallels and VMLogix are each rolling out new virtualization products Jan. 28 intended to help customers manage their increasingly virtualized data centers.
One of the more significant improvements in the new version of Parallels’ Virtuozzo is the management console-Parallels Infrastructure Manager -which, along with a redesigned interface, should make the virtual environment easier to manage and control.
With virtualization becoming a more acceptable technology in the data center, vendors such as Parallels and VMware are offering improved management software to help control sprawling virtual environments.
“With the release of Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0, we are launching the next wave of virtualization, including a suite of products that help IT managers effectively manage their growing virtual infrastructures,” Parallels CEO Serguei Beloussov said in a statement.
Parallels is also adding high-availability features to its Virtuozzo suite to work with a number of operating systems, including Windows Server 2003 and Red Hat clustering services; real-time backups for both Linux and Windows platforms; and improved network management and VLAN (virtual LAN ).
The Virtuozzo software partitions Linux and Microsoft operating systems in virtual containers or environments. This is a different approach to virtualization than the way VMware and other x86 virtualization vendors use hypervisor technology to partition a physical server into multiple virtual environments.
Parallels, which dropped its SWsoft name at the beginning of the year, is making the 4.0 version of its Virtuozzo Containers virtualization product generally available for $2,500 per dual CPU.
Pair of Lab Managers
VMLogix, meanwhile, is announcing that its LabManager product is now certified to run on Citrix XenServer.
Citrix acquired XenSource in 2007 for $500 million. Read more here.
The LabManager product allows users to streamline the software development and testing process within virtual environments. In addition to XenServer, LabManager works with VMware and Microsoft Virtual Server, said Sameer Dholakia, CEO of VMLogix.
VMware, which dominates the market for x86 virtualization, has a similar product, also called Lab Manager, which allows enterprises to use data center resources for application development and testing. On Jan. 21, VMware added another production tool, called Stage Manager, which helps streamline the process of bringing a new application through various test phases before full deployment within a business.
The advantage of VMLogix’s LabManager, Dholakia said, is that it works with multiple virtualization technologies, including VMware’s products. The software controls the operating systems with the virtual machine, which helps drive automation during testing, he said.
Dholakia mirrors the argument put forth by Parallels, which is that users of virtualization technology are looking beyond the hypervisor toward better management tools to control the different virtual environments within a data center. The real value for companies is in improving the entire ecosystem and making it easier to control.
“It’s now generally recognized in the industry that the hypervisor itself is becoming commoditized, and people are now beginning to look up the stack for the real value,” he said.