The VAR Guy

The Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) battle is getting aggressive. The latest move involves Microsoft and Citrix ganging up against VMware, hoping to switch VMware customers over to VDI solutions that leverage Microsoft and Citrix virtualization technologies. Microsoft is also changing its Windows licensing model to potentially speed VDI deployments. Here’s the scoop.

VMWare is launching ThinApp 4.5 for your customers’ Windows 7 migration virtualization needs. Here are the potential implications for VARs or MSPs who are dealing with migration issues or legacy application.

Not too long ago we chatted about SpringSource. Now they’re back in the news again. SpringSource, a division of VMware and Java app evangelist, has unveiled a new site to help the Apache Tomcat community. Here’s the deal…

VMWare, one of the most prominent names in virtualization, is launching Workstation Version 7.1 as a public beta release. The best part is, it’s free ’till May. What are the new features? Read on…

It’s been less than a month since VMware officially acquired Zimbra — the open source email platform — from Yahoo. But VMware isn’t standing still. Jim Morrisroe, VP and GM of VMware’s Zimbra division, says the company is preparing software appliances that combine virtualization with Zimbra. They should arrive by Q2 2010. Plus, VMware’s channel will soon promote Zimbra offerings. But that’s not all…

With spring around the corner in North America, it seemed like the right time for SpringSource to ’spring’ into action make their big announcement. SpringSource is unleashing SpringSource Server Spring Edition as “the best place to build and run Spring applications.” There’s a free promotion involved. Plus, this is the first time SpringSource will be offered through the VMware channel. Here’s the skinny…

Yesterday was Day 4 of the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stole the show by challenging the private sector and individuals alike to come up with a way to educate the public on the necessity of cybersecurity. Some details, and the rest of the fourth-day highlights behind the jump.

Netgear is at it again with two high-performance network storage platforms. The aim? Optimized storage for virtualization applications. Joining the family of ReadyNAS is the 3100 and the 4200. For VARs targeting the SMB space here are the details…

StorMagic, for the uninitiated, is involved in the iSCSI SAN (Storage Area Network) management software for virtualized server environments. The company says it has signed up over 60 resellers since launching the SvSAN storage virtual appliance last year. And during the recent VMWare Partner Exchange in Las Vegas, StorMagic made some new partner program moves. Here are the details.

DotNetNuke, which makes an open source content management system, seems to be gaining traction with channel partners. The company, which supports Microsoft .NET environments, has gone from zero to about 50 VARs and hosting providers in the past year, according to The VAR Guy’s ongoing Open Source 50 survey. Here are the details.

You might never have heard of Astaro, so let me give you a quick rundown. They’re a relatively small company (less than 200 employees) with headquarters in Germany. But 60% of their business is outside Germany. Part of that strategy involves a free Software or VM Firewall image appliance based on Linux. They’re also doing some interesting innovation. VARs might want to take note of this quiet little company that’s starting to make some noise. Here’s why.

Cisco, NetApp, and VMWare have joined forces. And what births forth from this trifecta? An effort to improve virtualization security. Dubbed “secure multi-tenancy design architecture,” its basic job is to show clients how to pinpoint applications that use the same physical network, server and storage resources in huge networks and adjust resources correctly. Here’s a little more info…

Back in mid-2009, The VAR Guy’s blog team openly wondered if 2010 would be the year of desktop virtualization. Perhaps that’s hyping VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) a bit. But the momentum continues: Unidesk, which develops virtual desktop management software, has raised $12 million in Series B venture capital funding. Here’s some analysis.

Many software companies continue to evangelize data deduplication strategies. The latest example: Symantec says that new versions of the popular Backup Exec and NetBackup, both with a new focus on data deduplication, will arrive February 1. Here’s the scoop.

Iomega, of ZipDisk fame, is trying to write a new chapter in mobile computing. If you get really attached to your working environment, you might wish you could drag your PC with you, but that’s not always practical. VPN is nice, but not always available. And sometimes… even a laptop doesn’t meet your needs. You’re just looking for something easier. Iomega’s new vClone technology apparently lets you do a brain-transplant on whatever PC you wish. Bring your comfy computing environment anywhere by using a simple USB hard drive. Sound too good to be true? It almost is. Here’s the scoop:

For the last week I’ve been playing around with VMware Fusion 3.01 on my Mac. I’ve had the pleasure of running Windows 7 and I’m here to share a quick little rundown of performance and features. For the geek at heart it’s a software marvel. For the cross platform techno-junky it’s a God-send. And for your customers that want to mix and max Windows and Mac applications, it could be a solid choice. But still, it has its caveats. Here’s the run down.

The VAR Guy spent another week chasing (and missing) a few deadlines. Even with his growing staff, our resident blogger didn’t quite cover all the channel chatter this week. Here are six blog posts The VAR Guy didn’t write for the week ending Dec. 11, 2009.

The VAR Guy has spent a few days digesting recent developments from Cisco, EMC and VMware. The trio, as you may have heard, have teamed up and unleashed a cloud effort dubbed “Vblock.” Hmmm. What are the implications for channel partners? Take a look.

Red Hat is starting to evangelize its Enterprise Virtualization Platform to VARs, managed service providers and other channel partners. Here’s some perspective on Red Hat’s continuing efforts to diversify beyond Linux.

Day One of VMworld is virtually over (pardon the pun). Here are six VMworld/virtualization headlines worth noting, and their implications for channel partners.

The VAR Guy was ready to unplug the evening of Aug. 31. Then this tip hit his inbox: VMware has unveiled the vPractice pilot program, which aims to help VARs productize new solutions and services around VMware. Here’s the scoop from our resident blogger.

When it comes to the next stop for virtualization, Microsoft, VMware, Lenovo and solutions providers all seem to be pointing to the same destination: The small business market. In fact, virtualization within the small and midsize business sector has been a hot topic of discussion at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WPC09) in New Orleans this week. Here’s the scoop.

Mary Jo Foley, the brain behind the All About Microsoft blog, raises an interesting question today. Amid Microsoft’s big virtualization push, she openly wonders if the biggest threat facing Microsoft is now VMware rather than Linux. The VAR Guy chewed on that a bit, and delivered the following answer.