Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
VMLogix Supports Citrix XenServer
2/4/2008
Microsoft isn't the only company courting virtualization and app delivery infrastructure vendor Citrix Systems. VMLogix is joining forces with the Fort Lauderdale, FL-based company to make its virtual lab automation solutions available on Citrix's newly acquired XenServer.
The partnership is actually an extension of a relationship established in 2007 between VMLogix and XenSource, which Citrix acquired in October of that year. XenSource was the commercial distributor of the open source Xen hypervisor. VMLogix is billing its new LabManager for Citrix release as the first and only virtual lab automation solution to run on that hypervisor.
The VMLogix LabManager takes virtualization into the software development lifecycle. It provides software developers and testers with a configuration library of build, test and production environments. It allocates infrastructure, provisions operating systems, sets up software stacks and packages, and installs development and testing tools automatically. It also provides a central repository of ready-to-use machine configurations, stores the operating system disk images and software packages, and transfers those assets to the system as needed.
Combining LabManager with Citrix XenServer adds server consolidation capabilities in the build farm and test lab, explained Sameer Dholakia, CEO of VMLogix. Server consolidation is still the sweet spot in the virtualization market, Dholakia said, but many companies actually dip their toes in the virtualization pond initially through application testing and development solutions.
"The original use case for virtualization was in the development and test lab," he said. "It was for software engineers who wanted to test their applications on one server instead of five. That was the genesis of this market. And it makes a lot of sense. It's contained. It's not in your production data center with your live transaction processing systems. It's not exposed to your customers or partners. It's a really smart way to dip your toe in the water."
Dholakia also sees virtualization in the software development lifecycle as a driver of increased collaboration among enterprise support, development and test groups. Configurations can then be shared, replicated and synchronized among multiple teams, locations and outsourcing partners.
VMLogix is expected to announce integrations with IBM Rational BuildForge and ClearQuest later this year. Developers will soon be able to plug a VMLogix-based virtualization and automation capability into those two applications, Dholakia says.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced an expanded partnership with Citrix, through which the two companies plan to jointly market services that will enable virtualization for computers, operating systems and applications. Dholakia believes that the work his company has done to integrate LabManager with XenServer will expedite a possible future integration with Microsoft's virtualization technologies.
VMLogix LabManager for XenServer is available now. More information is available on the VMLogix Web site.
John K. Waters is a freelance journalist and author based in Palo Alto, CA.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
