VMworld: Day Two news roundup

VMworld 2010

Day two of the VMworld 2010 conference in San Francisco saw VMware and Novell announce the launch of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware.

Existing VMware vSphere customers will get a subscription and patches to the operating system free of charge, and the virtualisation company will resell technical support for the code.

"With SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware, we provide a proven enterprise Linux operating platform with subscription to patches and updates at no additional cost, improving the ability to complete the transformation of a datacentre into a private cloud while further increasing return on investment," said Raghu Raghuram, general manager of virtualisation and cloud platforms at VMware.

The release is part of a long-term co-operative agreement between the two companies, and will add the ability to move data within clouds using SUSE and vSphere.

"SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware is the logical choice for VMware customers deploying and managing Linux within their enterprise," said Joe Wagner, general manager of global alliances at Novell.

However, it has not been all fun and games for VMware. The company released two patches for its ESX 3.5 Console OS late last night.

In other news, Isilon made a move into the virtualised storage market with support for the iSCSI protocol in its OneFS operating system. The move lets file- and block-based applications use a single storage point to maximise the use of existing hardware.

"Until now, enterprises have been forced to deploy separate systems for separate applications, or attempt to consolidate on complex architectures that handicap growth and inflate costs," said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing at Isilon.

"At Isilon, we believe there's a better, simpler way and, with our new unified scale-out storage platform, we're delivering."

Also on the storage front, the show was alive with rumours that Hitachi Global Storage Technologies may be spun off as a separate company.

Hitachi has been making big moves in the virtual storage arena, and a spin off could leave the company free to seek new partners and explore new areas.

The company also showed off its new Adaptable Modular Series 2000 units, which are fully optimised to run with VMware's vSphere code.

"The adoption of virtualisation and the need to consistently reduce costs are significant factors in enterprise IT strategies, making data storage solutions that simplify management, consolidate applications and minimise expenses key to IT efficiency," said Pushan Rinnen, a research director at Gartner.

"Unified scale-out storage is a compelling solution for virtualisation and general purpose IT, as it enables simplified data management, file- and block-level access, and keeps costs in line with business needs."

The day finished relatively early, and the 17,000 delegates broke for the traditional party in the Metreon centre next door, where INXS will be entertaining the troops.

If it's anything like last year, the talk on the floor tomorrow will be more about gossip than technology.