Microsoft gets into virtualization

Microsoft and XenSource announced they will develop technology to provide interoperability between Xen™-enabled Linux and Windows Server^® virtualization. This means Windows (Longhorn) and Linux can run on the same server in a virtualized way. Dana Blankenhorn of ZDnet likes it...This is news.

Virtualization basically allows multiple copies of software to run on the same machine simultaneously. Microsoft is getting serious about it with its acquisition of Softricity, an application virtualization company, and its Hypervisor software which allows virtualization of the operating systems. There are also companies that create virtualized storage.

Virtualization makes it possible to quickly scale up servers, applications, and storage to meet peak demands, or provide backup and fail-over for production servers. It gives great flexibility to IT managers to mix and match operating systems and applications without dedicating specific servers for each task.

This new project with Xen Source provides some level of interoperability and management between Xen enabled Linux and Microsoft's Longhorn. So, not only could you have multiple instances of Windows running on a server, but you could have Linux on that same server, and dynamically choose which OS is needed for a particular application.

Nicholas Carr gets into the strategic importance of these moves, and what it might portend for the future. 

"Softricity's technology will help Microsoft better respond to companies' growing desire to centralize the provisioning of desktop applications in order to reduce the burdens of maintenance, upgrading and troubleshooting (and in the process trim their IT staffs). When you stream an app, everybody gets the same version in the same configuration - and their core system remains untouched. Desktop maintenance issues go away, and upgrading becomes a snap."

Ina Fried at C/Net explores the pricing and business model implications of virtualized software.

In the old days, things were simple: Each program ran once on a computer that had a single user and a single processor. Now, it is not uncommon for a program or operating system to be running multiple times on the same piece of hardware, which may be powered by multiple processors, or a single chip with multiple processing cores.

On top of this, the machine in question may not even live in the company's own data center. The company may not even run the software itself, instead buying it or renting it from a third-party hosting service.

Virtualization is a big deal for IT managers and software infrastructure vendors, and even application vendors. Microsoft is leading the way on how to fairly price and license software in a virtualized world. But, it is still a work in progress.

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Comments

[Lloyd D Budd]

It is a bit of a tangent, but Apple's (consumer) marketing of the ability to run Windows on their Intel Macs makes me nauseous -- including concurrently using virtualization software, Parallels. If Apple really is serious about doing right by people, they would partner with Microsoft and VMWare so that developers and service providers could developer and support Mac and cross platform products without buying every member of their team mac hardware.

Touche.

[Lloyd D Budd]

I would suggest that VMWare has and is still leading the way, not Microsoft. Is there something more to your assertion?

[Lloyd D Budd]

I find it interesting that we are effectively returning to a client / server architecture.

[Don Dodge]

Microsoft has some innovative approaches to pricing and licensing for virtualization, SaaS, hosting, and on demand rental. These are radical departures from the traditional models.

VMWare has certainly been the market leader in virtualization software. I was referring to the pricing models for the operating systems and applications...something VMWare doesn't need to bother with. To be perfectly honest I have no idea how VMWare prices their products or if they somehow account for the operating systems and application software license of other vendors.

On the Client/Server comment, yes, old models are coming back into style. As Ray Ozzie has said, we are moving to a blend of Client/Server/Services leveraging the best of each approach for various usage models.

[Lloyd D Budd]

Interesting insights. Thanks Don.

[Rob Smith]

The irony that I find in all of this, is that the a lot of the original work on Xen was on shared source Microsoft code to run Windows XP. The team couldn't release anything working for XP for years due to Microsoft and its licensing. Once again the Giant is playing catch up to the industry, and something ts could have had in hand years ago.