The VAR Guy

Networking solutions specialist Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) has partnered with storage firm EMC (NYSE: EMC) to automate the management of joint EMC and Brocade storage area networking (SAN) environments, the latest in a bevy of announcements EMC has made this week.

Business information and storage specialist EMC (NYSE: EMC) wasted no time rolling out announcements at its EMC World 2012 conference, launching a whopping 42 products focused on the hybrid cloud and acquiring cloud-based sync and share file management provider Syncplicity.

As smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices enter the workspace, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is working to provide a faster experience for virtual desktop users with the VGX service, which allows organizations to virtualize graphics processing units (GPUs) on mobile device and virtual desktops.

Enterasys is quickly moving from being the “best kept secret in IT” to a force to be reckoned with in the networking space. And it has its channel partners to thank.

As small to medium-size businesses (SMBs) feel the squeeze in data storage capacity, Dell’s Financial Services (DFS) division is reaching out to its channel partners with a zero percent financing program for the company’s EqualLogic storage systems.

If there’s one thing the Xen hypervisor and Ubuntu Linux probably will always have in common, it’s names that no one is quite sure how to pronounce. But at a less superficial level, the two software projects are also becoming more integrated than ever, with newly released Ubuntu 12.04 boasting unprecedented support for Xen software. Here’s a look and where Xen and Ubuntu stand now, and where they might be headed in the future.

Virtualization management specialist Reflex Systems’ latest version of its Virtualization Management Center (VMC) suite includes features that address the growing needs of Big Data management, including streaming data analysis and customizable analytics.

Adoption of cloud services and use of virtualization continues to grow among SMBs, suggesting resellers should be focusing their attention on these areas, according to the latest IT SMB survey by social business specialist Spiceworks.

Technology giant Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is betting heavily on virtualization with its new Get Virtual Guarantee Program, designed to help customers boost server virtualization return on investment by doubling virtual machine density in existing VMware (NYSE: VMW) vSphere environments when deploying the company’s 3PAR Storage platform.

Performance management specialist Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD) and virtualization giant VMware (NYSE: VMW) announced the latest step in their partnership to help enterprises move to the cloud with Riverbed wide area network (WAN) optimization solutions, which accelerate virtual machines (VMs) moving between clouds — private, public and hybrid — using VMware vCloud Connector.

Data storage specialist Drobo’s release of Automated Data-Aware Tiering technology, which combines automation with solid state drives (SSDs) and data tiering, is aimed at helping SMBs with limited IT departments optimize their application performance.

Data center administrators face myriad challenges when it comes to managing the explosive growth of data coming into and moving across organizations today. Data capacity, applications and virtual servers are all growing at exponential rates and IT departments are struggling to store and manage all of that digital content, while keeping operational expenses in check.

In its continuing efforts to expand partner opportunities, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) has launched its Emerging Solutions Ecosystem, a vendor partnership program designed to deliver complementary and interoperable hardware, software and services components to build best-of-breed cloud solutions.

Fast on the heels of a management restructuring, virtualization specialist VMware (NYSE: VMW) is busting out some experienced industry hands for Accelerate Advisory Services, comprised of former chief information officers (CIOs), chief technology officers and industry consultants dedicated to enabling senior enterprise business and IT executives to deepen their understanding of how cloud computing can deliver business value across an organization.

According to survey results released earlier this year, Ubuntu still has a lot of room to grow in the cloud space.  But it seems to be doing just that, the latest indicator being HP’s release of cloud products based partially on Ubuntu.  Here’s the scoop, and why it matters for the Ubuntu world in particular.

Executive changes are afoot at VMware (NYSE: VMW). Some investors appear worried about potential slowing growth at the  virtualization and cloud computing giant. For channel partners there’s no cause for panic. Compared to most rivals, VMware is still growing like a weed and the company has a deep management team, some of whom are being promoted into more strategic positions.

Businesses today want flexibility, mobility and choices about how they stay connected and productive — probably the same things you want to help you run your own company. Virtualization technologies including virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) bring the office to you and your employees wherever you are and allow for bring-your-own-device programs that keep them on the handsets they want.

Demand for IT pros with virtualization and networking skills is rising faster than businesses can find qualified employees. This reality is likely the impetus behind a partnership between Cisco Systems (CSCO) and EMC (EMC) to step into the void and offer technical education solutions in the areas of cloud architecture, virtualization, storage, data center networking and data science. Read on for the details.

As the SMB continues upward along the growth curve, so to does its adoption of virtualization. Turn the wayback machine to May 2011, and you may remember Citrix’s efforts to deepen its SMB relationships by acquiring the SMB-friendly virtualization company Kaviza and its VDI-in-a-Box technology. Now, Citrix is taking that expertise and technology and forming a new partner specialization, specifically geared at the SMB. The VAR Guy has all the details …

Over the past two years, SEC documents indicate, Cisco Systems has invested $264 million into VCE — the virtual computing environment that’s also backed by EMC and VMware. Some quick math by The VAR Guy suggests Cisco, EMC and VMware together have invested roughly $750 million in VCE since 2010. So is the investment paying dividends so far? Here’s an educated guess.

Cisco has announced new developments across its Unified Computing System to deliver a third-generation fabric computing system. As you may recall, UCS integrates network, compute, virtualization and management. Cisco claims the upgrades will help partners to scale customer data centers, while accelerating the transition to virtualization and cloud computing.

Cisco Systems is beginning to see momentum from VCE, the Virtual Computing Environment backed by VMware, Cisco and EMC. Cisco also is speaking highly of a somewhat similar relationship with NetApp. Those insights emerged from Cisco Senior VPs Keith Goodwin and Edison Peres (pictured, left and right) during a discussion with The VAR Guy.

The Avnet + Cisco Executive Symposium in Phoenix is supposed to be about the opportunities around the data center. Which, of course, includes virtualization, the cloud, supporting the ever-growing ranks of mobile devices in the workplace, etc. etc. etc. But there’s a sub-level conversation happening as well, and it involves how these opportunities are transforming resellers’ way of doing business, from how they approach sales to how they run their own business.