David Marshall's blog

New VMware Player 3.0 is worth looking at

David Marshall — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:50:53 +0000

Sitting back and watching 2009 zoom past me, I noticed that the desktop virtualization market is finally beginning to grab hold within organizations. Media, analysts and vendors have been telling people about its technological wonders for years. But for one reason or another, it has taken all that time for it to really catch on. And even if organizations haven't already started implementing the technology in some form or fashion, it is at least finally making it on to their immediate roadmaps.

Will the Intel/AMD settlement solve virtualization compatibility issues?

David Marshall — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are calling a truce and burying the legal hatchet with one another. In a move to clear up a long-standing allegation that Intel has abused monopoly power to thwart competition, Intel will pay rival chipmaker AMD the sum of $1.25 billion to settle all outstanding legal disputes.

VMware admins possess the IT skills needed in a down economy

David Marshall — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:16:58 +0000

Those individuals with virtualization skills and cloud expertise can earn a much higher salary right now compared to professionals in other areas of IT. Virtualization technology is maturing and spreading throughout datacenters, and the skills needed to implement and operate it are currently in high demand.

VKernel makes Capacity Modeler a free alternative to VMware CapacityIQ

David Marshall — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:20:12 +0000

VKernel is ready to announce that they are making their Capacity Modeler software for VMware completely free until Dec. 31, 2009.

A Virtual Computing Environment love affair for Cisco, EMC, and VMware

David Marshall — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

The big virtualization news this week was the partnership announcement from three industry-leading companies: Cisco Systems, EMC, and VMware. The three were already intimately connected to each other through ownership -- EMC owns nearly 85 percent of VMware, and Cisco owns a small percentage stake in the virtualization company too But now, this union appears to be even stronger with a joint venture announced around a new integrated datacenter coalition call

Is it worthwhile to upgrade to a VMware vSphere 4 certification?

David Marshall — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

VMware is about to end its current certification upgrade program whereby current VMware Certified Professionals (VCPs) with VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) certifications can simply take the new VCP 4 exam, rather than being forced to sit through yet another training class. But those interested in upgrading in this way need to act quickly, because the promotion is set to expire by year's end. After that, you'll have to endure more classroom training, specifically a two-day "What's New" course that will run you about $1,500.

VMware Fusion 3 and Workstation 7 licensing problems no trick or treat

David Marshall — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:26:09 +0000

Desktop virtualization is quickly making a turnaround. While everyone has been talking about server virtualization taking over the datacenter, companies like VMware have still been creating desktop virtualization software to help both the business world and the home consumer. And with a multiplier of desktops to servers, this market is huge!

VMware updates Mac desktop virtualization with Fusion 3

David Marshall — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:11:43 +0000

The battle to put Microsoft Windows on a Mac machine continues. The latest entry into this Mac virtualization scuffle comes from VMware with the release of Fusion 3.

Q&A: Virsto Software CEO Mark Davis discusses storage in the virtual world

David Marshall — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

As more and more people continue down the path of virtualizing their environments, one area that often gets overlooked in the process are the needs and the problems associated with storage. To find out more about this topic, I was able to speak with Mark Davis, CEO of Virsto Software, a company expecting to launch its first product by year's end. The company believes that storage is badly broken within the virtual world, and it plans on moving storage into the virtual age to keep pace with servers.

VMware tries its hand at capacity planning

David Marshall — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Much was made about VMware expanding its management product portfolio back during VMworld 2008 as the company hinted around an entire new series of vCenter products and modules in the coming months and following year. Much to the chagrin of many of its partners at that time, it was obvious that many of these products and modules would be directly competing with them for the same customer dollars.