VMware has announced a new virtual application service which it claims can
provide significantly reduced downtime and data loss when hardware fails.
Fault Tolerance, unveiled at
VMworld
2008 in Las Vegas, is one of the new Application vServices the firm launched
in conjunction with its Virtual Datacenter Operating System, a new strategy that
allows businesses to aggregate all hardware resources, servers, storage and
networks into an on-premises cloud.
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Virtual machines holding the new system will be up and running within four
seconds if a fault occurs, according to firm.
Bogomil Balansky, marketing director at VMware, said that Fault Tolerance was
the most significant of the many announcements at VMworld. "We are breaking new
ground that no one has before," he said.
Harbinder Singh, a network engineer at New York's Stony Brook University
Hospital, said that he would be looking at the new solution and would most
likely deploy it if the hospital's IT infrastructure holds the necessary
connections.
"I am most excited about Fault Tolerance because a certain percentage of the
hospital's virtual machines are critical and have to run 24 hours a day," he
told vnunet.com. "This
would offer a great solution if the host were to go down."
Matthew Clark, director of telecoms supplier Qualcomm, explained that he was
impressed with Fault Tolerance because of its accessibility.
"It can be turned on with a mouse click and you get the same result that
fault tolerant hardware or software clustering would give you at a fraction of
the cost and effort," he said.
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