Newsletters Welcome, Guest Log In | Register

Subscribe

Sign up now and get the best business technology insights direct to your inbox.

  • Daily Edge
  • CTO Edge Update
  • Business Tools & Templates
  • Aligning IT & Business Goals
  • Maximizing IT Investments

0

What Virtualization Means for Enterprise Software Tomorrow

Posted by Dennis Byron Jun 20, 2008 2:53:16 PM

I'm a software guy.  Even for the 20-odd years I worked for hardware companies, I was a software guy. After all, what did all those nerds with horned-rim glasses and pocket protectors think sold the hardware? It was the software, of course.  Still, every once in a while it was good to view the real world by getting out on the shop floor to smell the solder, watch the women with the incredible eyesight string "the doughnuts" in core memory and see what a 19-inch OEM rack that's about to become a CAT-scan device looks like without its skins.

 

You can't do that anymore unless you metaphorically get the tour of the real world, the hardware world, as I did June 18 listening to Boyd Davis, general manager of the Intel Server Platforms Group. He was speaking to us software guys at the Red Hat Summit in Boston.

 

And the real world is not just virtualized servers anymore, but virtualization technology (VT) everywhere: for direct I/O (Intel VT-d), for flexible configurations, for high transaction-processing performance and more. Intel's VT vision begins with processing, of course. "A server is a file," says Davis. OK, sure, I get that

 

But the real news is the way Intel is making it newest architectures "virtualization aware." Until now (meaning for the last 50 years, starting with IBM VSE, and so forth) virtualization has just been software tricking up the hardware. But Intel is taking it deeper than that with VT-d and its other VT technologies. This Intel document will provide detail for those, like me, who like to smell the solder. For others just consider some of the possibilities:

"As IT consolidates server workloads, more virtual machines (VMs) will run on servers, with a growing number of I/O devices to support them. Approaches to I/O device virtualization... can result in lower performance as I/O throughput increases... But, hardware assistance in concert with system software.... allows system software to securely assign particular I/O devices to VMs directly."

This becomes increasingly important when you consider that "I/O devices" will not just mean a PC with disk and a printer. It will mean zetaflops (if that's a word) of network-attached storage.  It will not only be your iPhone or knock-off, but all those surfaces Microsoft is talking about with its surface computing PR blitz.  It will be your car.  It will be your TV. It will mean every RFID tag in transit anywhere in the supply chain. It will be the medical device (even literally the bed  in the hospital).

 

Thinking of it this way really puts some meat around the term virtualization. So back to my enterprise software with a new perspective.

Add a comment Leave a comment on this blog post.

There are no comments on this post

Radore Hosting: Energy Efficient Hosting

Read this case study to learn how Radore, a Turkish hosting company, reduces its energy consumption by approximately 70 percent with a virtualized solution from Dell.

A Complete View of the Enterprise: Linking Operational and Financial Planning in Global Organizations

Read this white paper from CFO Research Services that examines why and how chief financial officers are looking to create "highly integrated" organizations by moving from standalone spreadsheets to integrated planning, budgeting, and forecasting systems.

Applications for Mid-size Businesses

Applications that mid-sized businesses can use to improve operational efficiency, accelerate growth, and maintain profitability.

Cost-Effective Business Software

Business solutions software that reduce costs, improve operational performance, decrease risk, and strengthen business management processes.

Enterprise Manager

Tools, best practices and expert advice on managing your enterprise IT infrastructure, databases, and Web service components.

Database Management

Data management tips and techniques that insure ease of access, comprehensive security and absolute privacy for your invaluable company information.

The IT Service Catalog Management Toolkit

Bridge the IT-business gap once and for all! A well documented IT services catalog is the conduit for IT services to the rest of the company.

Learn more >

The Complete IT Policy Kit

Download a comprehensive bundle containing over 40 IT policy templates. Each can be modified to align with your specific business requirements. Complete instructions are included.

Learn more >