IBM already make a huge amount of money out of selling software on Sun hardware, there’s a lot of WebSphere out there running on Solaris servers. There’s a lot of IBM software full-stop running on Sun kit. IBM Global Services probably run more Solaris servers than most; I know of a number of huge deals which involve IBM running Sun servers. By buying Sun, they can grab more of this dollar.

And there’s the Open Source aspect; IBM embraced Open Source and especially Linux in a way which was most un-IBM like. Whilst Sun were sending mixed messages out, IBM set about working out how to make money out of Open Source by fully leveraging their services organisation. Sun, finally, came to the party and but like many late-comers, they overpaid for their entrance. But Sun still have technologies which I am sure that IBM would like to get their hands on and I am pretty sure that IBM know how to monetize them.

Java, a technology that IBM probably know better than Sun themselves. At times you would even believe that Java was already an IBM product.

IBM also pickup VirtualBox which shows some promise as a desktop virtualisation tool.

Yes IBM will have to kill products and at least one sacred cow will have to go; AIX or Solaris. That’s a hard one to call. Solaris on pSeries would be an interesting proposition but I suspect AIX will survive; it’ll pick up some technologies from Solaris, ZFS for example. And if Solaris goes; where does that leave Sparc?

And there’s the storage aspect. Have HDS just lost a channel? I cannot see IBM reselling USP, Barry W would be apoplectic! NetApp relationship? I can see that being strained somewhat; with some further engineering, the 7000 series could be an excellent competitor at the low-mid range for NetApp FAS but there is a question mark over the future of Solaris as I mentioned earlier.

Enterprise Tape? Well, IBM will own that market with the addition of Storagetek. Hopefully someone will come and pick Quantum up! Stornext FTW!

IBM and Sun both resell LSI; so that shouldn’t be a problem for them.

But at the end of the day, this isn’t really about technology and it’s not about storage. This is about market-share, this is about mind-share, this is about services and this is about coming out of the down-turn as Number 1. 

And if it isn’t true; well, congratulations to the person who wanted to distract from Cisco’s UCS..way to go!!

© Martin for Gestalt IT, 2009. | Bigger Blue?
Read more posts categorized as All, Featured, Server Virtualization, Storage

“Now, VMware is providing VMware View Open Client for partners, enabling them to use VMware View source code to optimize their products to deliver rich, personalized virtual desktops to users. In addition, partners will be able to use the source code to help accelerate the development and delivery of solutions for enterprises to provision and manage thousands of virtual desktops simply, securely and at substantially lower operating costs.”

What I find most interesting is that Linux systems now have a installable VDI client. Unless I am mistaken, previously a web browser was the only way a connection to a virtual desktop could be made from Linux. Not only does this increase the functionality and features, but it could substantially lower the total cost of a VDI solution. Whether using a thin client or a desktop computer, using Linux as the device OS generally should reduce the cost of implementation.

Looking forward, I’m curious to see if specialized distributions are developed that integrate the Linux VDI client. I would imagine a “VDI LiveCD” from Ubuntu, Suse, or even Google’s gOS could be released to minimize the installation and administration learning curve and adoption barriers. Ultimately, this client could be a native feature of a desktop hypervisor too.

For a screen shot of the VMware View Client on Suse desktop check out Duncan’s post VMware View Open Client, test it! » Yellow Bricks.

The linuxdevices.com post VMware ships open source Linux VDI client summarizes information about specific features and differences in the commercial and open source versions of the Linux client.

“VMware will continue to offer its commercially licensed View Client stack for Linux and Windows. The commercial stack adds features like USB redirection, multiple desktop sessions, and multimedia redirection. Like the commercial version, though, the free, open source View Open Client enables a Linux desktop or thin client to connect to a remote Windows desktop managed by VMware’s “View” virtualization software. The free client boasts a “full” command line interface, and is said to support secure tunneling using SSL, and two-factor authentication with RSA SecurID. The release is said to work with VMware Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM) 2.0 and 2.1, as well as VMware View Manager 3.0. Posted on Google Code, the client software is licensed under GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 (LGPL v 2.1).”

VMware employees have also blogged about the new VDI client. Check out Mike Dipetrillo’s post VMware View Open Client and John Troyer’s VMware releases open source desktop client.

© Rich for Gestalt IT, 2009. | New Possibilities With Open Source VMware VDI Client for Linux
Read more posts categorized as Desktop, Server Virtualization