Microsoft acquires Softricity

I was catching up with news after a busy week and read this article on CNet – Microsoft will acquire Softricity.

I think it pretty much says that the leader of the software industry recognized that one size does not fit all, and very soon there will be demand for virtualization at all levels – hardware, OS and application. In 2003, Microsoft acquired Connectix for Virtual PC and Virtual Server. In 2006 they’re acquiring Softricity and apparently,  they’re developing their Virtuozzo-like technology – a quote says “Mike Neil, product unit manager for Microsoft's virtualization technologies, confirmed that his company is working on the lightweight virtualization approach variously known as containers, virtual private servers or virtual environments.”

Alessandro Perilli agrees with me in his blog. His conclusion is “The sneaking message is that Microsoft is going to provide all three major virtualization technologies in the Longhorn wave: server (or hardware) virtualization, OS partitioning and application virtualization.”

Virtuozzo is the most advanced OS virtualization technology today, and the future seems to be bright. Let me know what you think!

Live data migration

I just came across this article on TechTarget. VMware customers have started to recognize the limitations of the current implementation of VMotion. As it turns out, in many live migration scenarios users need to move the data from one storage device to another – moving just the VM is not sufficient.

Of course, that is exactly what Virtuozzo 3.0 for Linux does. When Virtuozzo moves a virtual environment from one machine to another, it moves the data, too. If you haven’t already done this, see for yourself and request a free trial of Virtuozzo today.

Linuxfest Northwest

Last Saturday, I went to a very nice Northwest town of Bellingham, Washington. I did a “Linux and virtualization” presentation at the local technical college attended by about 30 or so people.

I was happy the Linuxfest attendees had nothing against me, despite nearly five years I spent working for the Evil Empire :) They were generally more educated about virtualization than people I usually meet at trade shows and conferences. For example, I didn’t have to spend time explaining virtualization technologies and how Virtuozzo is different from VMWare. I also met some Virtuozzo customers who even helped me answer some specific questions during Q&A in the end of my presentation. I can tell you there was a good deal of interest in Virtuozzo.

Overall, I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with a knowledgeable group of people, at a nice place in a nice town. I’m looking forward to returning to Linuxfest Northwest next year!