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WinOnX 1.3 Makes It Possible to Run Windows Programs on Apple OS X

NES Software — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:23:46 +0000

NES Software has announced the latest release of WinOnX, its easy-to-use application that makes it possible to run Microsoft Windows software on an Apple Macintosh. The newest version, WinOnX 1.3, adds support for many additional Windows applications, and a new program compatibility database that lets users quickly see how likely their program is to work with WinOnX and if there are any known issues. WinOnX 1.3 also offers the ability to launch multiple instances of a Windows program simultaneously and supports native Mac OS X open-file dialog.

In addition, WinOnX 1.3 now includes automatic problem analysis — making it fast and easy to diagnose and resolve errors — and the ability to rate, review and comment on program compatibility right from the status bar. WinOnX supports over 70 percent of Windows programs, requires no Windows boot time and has a low cost, easy setup. The latest enhancements are a big win for customers that must navigate between the incompatible worlds of Apple and Microsoft Windows software.

The first release of WinOnX promised Mac users a way to run their critical Windows software without the complexity and cost of virtualization programs, purchasing additional licenses, time spent setting up Windows or resorting to the command line — and it delivered. WinOnX 1.3 continues delivering on that promise by making the software even more robust and easy to use. Users can interact more naturally with Windows applications due to the application’s improved full screen view and better multiple printer integration.

WinOnX is based on the latest version of the open source Wine library, version 1.4, and launches faster than other virtual environments. Users simply install WinOnX 1.3, locate their Windows application and double-click — that’s it. Unlike with other tools, there’s no need to wait for virtual environments to load; once WinOnX is installed, users can launch their Windows apps directly with no extra steps. Even better, at $4.99, WinOnX is an affordable way to have access to the world of Windows software without leaving the Mac.

Customers that have tried the latest release, WinOnX 1.3, are pleased; one user commented,

“Unbelievable, but it works. When I consider how Parallels slowed down my system, not to talk about the booting time, this program is a real liberation for my Mac.”

System Requirements
WinOnX requires Apple Macintosh OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or later and at least 91.3 MB of space to install.

Pricing and Availability
WinOnX is priced at $4.99 and can be found in the Apple Mac App Store.

AppSense Labs Launches StrataApps to Enable User-Managed Apps

AppSense — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:37:57 +0000

AppSense, the leading provider of user virtualization technology, continues to set new standards of IT efficiency and user productivity with the introduction of StrataApps, a new technology developed by AppSense Labs. StrataApps shifts the burden of managing crucially important, yet relatively low demand applications from an over-stretched IT service department to the users themselves. Separate from the underlying desktop architecture, users are empowered to safely and independently manage their own personal productivity applications such as PDF Readers, GoToMeeting, iTunes, Skype, Tweetdeck and others without disrupting enterprise resources. StrataApps is the second offering through AppSense Labs, which was recently announced as the innovation arm of the AppSense global research and development group focused on creating new technologies that push the boundaries of user-centric computing.

“With the Consumerization of IT, users have adapted to app management with desktops and devices that fit with their personal preferences,” said Harry Labana, CTO and VP of Product Management at AppSense. “StrataApps is an innovative approach to making users accountable for apps they choose without IT interference. As we further develop the product, there are unique monitoring, governance and roaming capabilities that may further support both users and IT demands.”

StrataApps allows users to safely download and install personally selected apps without creating installation concerns while also, and importantly, maintaining a pristine base build. Should a user try to install an app that is not compatible with the user’s environment, IT managers are shielded from any verification or provisioning requirements and a report is generated regarding installation success or failure. To date, a wide variety and diverse set of apps have been tested within an enterprise environment. Through continued research with AppSense Labs and installations made available, IT managers will continue to gain reinforcement that users can choose and manage select apps without impacting the enterprise.

“StrataApps enables an organization to focus on the delivery of core business applications while at the same time enabling users to become more productive by managing their own personal productivity applications,” said Ian Cawson, Technical Architect for the Co-operative and winners of the Citrix Innovation Award. “Furthermore by the very nature of application virtualization, as IT consumerization continues to grow, this solution could pave the way for future initiatives and strategies. We look forward to the on-going development of StrataApps and may consider it as part of our future desktop platform.”

IT managers must prioritize corporate and departmental apps over low demand user installed apps that create the “Long Tail” of application usage. StrataApps reduces the need for IT to be all things to all apps, especially when users make choices on how and what they need to be productive. StrataApps does not replace IT complexities such as protection from malware, isolating applications at runtime or replacement of traditional software distribution. Rather, StrataApps can compliment and accelerate enterprise application virtualization implementations by allowing users to manage their own applications and plug-ins.

StrataApps is available today via a free download as an AppSense Labs release.

Also, the DataLocker suite, which has been downloaded by over 14,000 users since launch in late February, is available through AppSense Labs via a free download, which includes native clients for Windows, Mac, iPhone and iPad.

Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization 9 Delivers Reliable Virtual Applications Faster

Novell — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:47:46 +0000

Novell today announced the availability of Novell® ZENworks® Application Virtualization 9. This latest release leverages a unique approach to application harvesting that enables enterprise IT staff to tap into a library of trusted resources and find the best stored version to build the necessary virtual application dynamically. By harvesting work that has already been done, IT users can scan a target endpoint and quickly build a set of needed virtual applications, saving time and ensuring quality.

ZENworks Application Virtualization 9 includes access to a large number of pre-built templates for building virtual applications based upon tested and optimized application configurations. These Web-based templates provide IT administrators with access to a central repository that includes the most up-to-date versions of common applications. Building applications using templates greatly reduces the manual labor necessary to configure virtual applications, while Web-based access eliminates the need to upgrade the version of ZENworks Application Virtualization each time an application needs to be updated, reducing IT labor and costs.

"ZENworks Application Virtualization 9 removes the complications typically associated with application deployment by building upon work that IT has already completed," said Eric Varness, vice president of product management and marketing at Novell. "By harvesting from our new library of trusted, pre-built application templates, customers can reduce the costs, complexity and time delays required for application compatibility testing and management."

Additional customer benefits of Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization 9 include:

Offline Streaming Support - Novell provides the fastest adaptive application streaming in the industry and now offers the ability for streaming applications to be executed without a persistent web connection.
"Juke-Boxing" - Reducing the time and hassle associated with downloading multiple sub-products that aren't being used in an enterprise, "Juke-Boxing" affords the ability to launch individual products from within a single application stream for suite applications.
Application Control - Ensuring IT can maintain compliance with its license agreements, portable virtualized applications can now be configured to only execute for users who meet defined criteria, such as Microsoft Active Directory membership or if the device is being managed by ZENworks.

Availability
Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization is currently available.

IBM to Acquire Green Hat

IBM — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:17:10 +0000

IBM today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Green Hat, a leader in software quality and testing solutions for the cloud and other environments. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1996, Green Hat is jointly headquartered in London, England and Wilmington, Delaware. Green Hat helps customers improve the quality of software applications by enabling developers to leverage cloud computing technologies to conduct testing on a software application prior to its delivery. Historically, to run simulation testing on a software program, a development team must construct an actual testing lab made up of both hardware and software. This time consuming and labor intensive process has become even more compounded with the short development cycle needed to compete in rapidly expanding markets such as those for smart phones and tablets. By using Green Hat's solutions, a virtual test environment can be set up in a matter of minutes versus weeks, and for a fraction of the cost.

According to recent industry reports, software testing represents more than 50 percent of overall development costs, and testing teams often spend upwards of 30 percent of their time managing the complexity of the test environment.(1) Green Hat creates a virtual environment that simulates a wide range of IT infrastructure elements, without the constraints of hardware or software services. This continuous test environment enables developers and quality professionals to test software earlier and more frequently throughout the software development lifecycle.

Upon the acquisition close, Green Hat will join IBM's Rational Software business. When combined with the IBM Rational Solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management, developers and testers can achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency, effectiveness, and collaboration while delivering quality software to their business. IBM and Green Hat will help customers maximize continuous integration of an application, including creating virtual protocols, message formats, services, customization and engagement with third-party software. Development teams can avoid scrap and rework and dramatically reduce costly delays while achieving greater business agility and accelerating the delivery of software applications.

"This acquisition extends IBM's leadership in driving business agility and software quality by changing the way enterprises can manage software development cost, test cycle time and risk," said Kristof Kloeckner, General Manager, IBM Rational. "Together, we offer the most complete solution available today for agile software development and testing, with flexible options such as the cloud. Green Hat's application virtualization capabilities will help our customers accelerate their delivery of business critical software."

"We've been focused on transforming our customers' software development processes through innovative testing and quality improvements," said Peter Cole, CEO, Green Hat. "We are looking forward to bringing Green Hat's innovative application virtualization and continuous integration testing expertise to IBM customers who have a growing business need to better manage their complex testing environments."

The Green Hat software testing solutions also will be offered through IBM Global Business Services' Application Management Services (AMS). IBM AMS provides strategy, design, implementation, testing and managed services for application virtualization to accelerate customer results.

Green Hat is an automated testing technology leader, operating worldwide with a Global 2000 customer base. Green Hat makes automated testing simple for complex systems relying on Cloud, Web Services, messaging, SOA (Service Oriented Architecture), ESB (Enterprise Service Bus), BPM (Business Process Management), CEP (Complex Event Processing), SAP and other distributed technologies. Their diverse range of customers includes prestigious representation in financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, transportation and the energy industry.

Riverbed Broadens Support for Applications with New WAN Optimization Release

Riverbed Technology — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:05:07 +0000

Riverbed Technology, the IT performance company, today announced new features and capabilities to its Riverbed® Optimization System (RiOS®) that broaden the company’s support for key enterprise applications and extend its leadership in delivering speed, scale, simplicity and security to the globally connected enterprise. With RiOS 7.0, Riverbed has expanded its already broad set of optimizations to include native support for hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) video, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and IPv6, and has extended its existing optimizations for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Quality of Service (QoS), scale and security enhancements also provide organizations with greater control over business-critical applications. This release reinforces the Riverbed commitment to optimize all types of applications that enterprises care about, and gives customers a performance platform that is designed for the applications of both today and tomorrow.

In addition, in RiOS 7.0 Riverbed has integrated Cascade® Shark functionality into the Steelhead® appliance to deliver on-demand packet capture and analysis, allowing customers to leverage their Steelhead appliance for branch monitoring and troubleshooting. Riverbed is the only vendor to provide this level of integration between wide area network (WAN) optimization and a network performance management (NPM) solution.

“The increasing adoption of technologies such as live video, UDP and IPv6 are helping change the way organizations do business,” said Lucinda (Cindy) Borovick, research vice president for the enterprise communications and data center networks services at IDC. “With this release, Riverbed is raising the bar even further by adding to its already robust list of optimizations for its Steelhead appliance by tackling these technologies that are often times bandwidth-intensive. By also adding embedded Cascade Shark functionality into the Steelhead appliance and QoS enhancements, customers have the tools to troubleshoot performance problems quickly and prioritize applications that are critical to business success.”

“Riverbed is a market leader because its product development is driven by customer needs,” said Miles Kelly, senior director of product marketing at Riverbed. “New support for UDP and IPv6 underscore our ongoing focus on expanding capabilities in RiOS to align with the new IT initiatives our customers undertake, based directly on our conversations with them. In addition, as the company with the broadest set of optimizations for the applications important to enterprises, we will continue to address dynamic applications and specific use cases such as disaster recovery, VDI and unified communications and collaboration (UCC).”

Acceleration of End-to-End Video Solutions

With the enhancements in RiOS 7.0, Riverbed extends its capabilities to provide organizations with joint solutions for complete, end-to-end video optimization for live and on-demand content. Riverbed now offers optimization for delivery of video content with native stream splitting capabilities over HTTP. With stream splitting technology, also known as application layer multicasting, a single video stream can serve a large number of viewers in a particular location, enabling video scalability for live video, providing high-quality viewing and freeing more bandwidth across the WAN for other applications. For on-demand streaming, customers can combine data streamlining to store on-demand videos in branch locations, QoS to prioritize bandwidth utilization, and prepositioning to proactively improve users’ video experience. These live and on-demand optimization capabilities also leverage current partnerships with leading video content management solutions providers such as Polycom, Adobe, Qumu and MediaPlatform. With these integrated solutions, organizations can not only enhance video production and content management but also delivery and distribution.

Optimizations for Adobe Video Solutions

Riverbed now offers native stream splitting for Adobe Flash over HTTP. With the new stream splitting capability, organizations using Adobe Flash Media now have a powerful solution to deliver multimedia communication and collaboration solutions to remote employees for live broadcasts as well as videos on demand. Riverbed’s video optimization capabilities will enable scalable and efficient delivery for CEO/CxO broadcasts, training and compliance videos, employee-generated video content, and more.

Another Industry First for Riverbed – Live Video Stream Splitting for Microsoft Silverlight

Riverbed also is the first to offer stream splitting for Microsoft Silverlight. Microsoft Silverlight is a powerful tool for creating and delivering rich Internet business applications and premium media experiences on the Web. With the new stream splitting technology, organizations using Microsoft Silverlight can now use more video with freedom for the purposes of training and internal communications, effectively without increasing bandwidth capacity or negatively impacting the performance of other applications.

UDP for Replication Solutions and IPv6

With the release of RiOS 7.0, organizations now have the flexibility to optimize applications that run on both TCP/IP and UDP, including replication solutions. These applications can consume substantial bandwidth, making connectionless, packet-by-packet optimization a necessity. In addition, as IPv6 is adopted, RiOS 7.0 ensures organizations can take advantage of bandwidth optimization for UDP traffic and TCP over IPv6.

Riverbed Expands Acceleration and Control for Broadest Range of Virtual Desktop Environments

As many organizations are turning to desktop virtualization to centralize critical data and deliver IT resources more efficiently, Riverbed delivers solutions to help overcome WAN constraints such as latency, limited bandwidth, and an inability to prioritize interactive traffic that cause virtual desktop performance to slow down. The Riverbed Steelhead product family helps organizations get the most out of their virtual desktop deployments by optimizing traffic for the broadest range of solutions. Currently Riverbed customers can overcome the performance barriers to delivering desktop virtualization for organizations utilizing Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop, VMware View, and Microsoft RDP and RemoteFX. To further enable organizations to adopt a virtual desktop infrastructure and enhance end-user productivity, Riverbed is delivering new capabilities in RiOS 7.0 with optimization for ICA (independent computing architecture) over secure socket layer (SSL). Additionally, a new client drive mapping feature enables organizations to optimize content accessed directly from a thin client, including thumb drives. More Understanding and Control to Address Business Priorities

On Demand Packet Capture and Analysis for Branch Troubleshooting

As organizations deploy new applications, including rich media content, in branch offices, end users come to expect a LAN-like experience. Therefore, IT administrators need to be able to pinpoint and resolve application performance problems quickly so that end users in the branch office aren’t negatively impacted. The Riverbed Cascade family of application-aware NPM solutions offers an elegant and simple design that deploys easily in complex networks and provides true integration with the Steelhead product family. With RiOS 7.0, Riverbed has extended that integration, allowing customers with Cascade Pilot to leverage Steelhead appliances in branch offices for on-demand packet capture and remote analysis without having to transfer huge packet capture files over the network. Now, IT administrators can detect and respond to application performance problems without expanding their hardware footprint.

“The integration of on-demand packet capture capabilities in RiOS 7.0 enables our organization to get more out of our investment in Steelhead appliances,” said Tim Kokes, systems engineer at Rudolph Technologies, a leading provider of process characterization equipment and software for wafer fabs and advanced packaging facilities. “We can now respond faster to performance issues at our remote sites without having to expand our hardware footprint, which also translates to secondary benefits including cost savings and fewer nodes to manage across our network. Also, some of the new optimizations in RiOS 7.0 provided us with improved performance for critical applications such as Microsoft Outlook. The end result is more productive employees, improved network uptime, and fewer bandwidth constraints, which leaves more room for other applications like VoIP, so we no longer experience dropped calls.”

Security

For security-conscious organizations, RiOS 7.0 expands optimization capabilities to include authenticated and encrypted traffic, specifically:

Encrypted Lotus Notes – Organizations that have embraced Lotus Notes can now accelerate Encrypted Lotus Notes traffic.
Microsoft Online Services Optimization – Riverbed can now deliver increased performance for messaging and collaboration solutions, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Office Live.
End-to-End Kerberos Authentication Support – Riverbed can now optimize applications that utilize the Kerberos authentication standard, which is used by Microsoft applications and platforms including Active Directory and Windows Server.

Skipware Integration

Riverbed’s Skipware® software now integrates directly with RiOS 7.0. Skipware is based on the proprietary commercial implementation of the Space Communications Protocol Standard (SCPS), which has become the de facto standard for US Department of Defense satellite networking environments. Skipware enables organizations to overcome severe performance degradation caused by weather and other interference that jeopardizes mission-critical communications. Previously, Skipware was available only as a package on the Riverbed Services Platform (RSP).

Availability: RiOS 7.0 is expected to be generally available in Q4 2011.

F5 Teams with NetApp and VMware to Enable Live Migration for Applications

F5 Networks — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:45:40 +0000

F5 Networks, the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced improved live virtual machine migration capabilities for customers leveraging NetApp® unified storage and VMware virtualization solutions. Based on recent performance testing results, this new solution combines the companies’ technologies to help customers seamlessly migrate live virtual machines between data centers without any perceivable disruption to users or applications.

“Strong partnerships with industry leaders such as NetApp and VMware help us maximize the efficiency of customers’ virtualization and cloud deployments,” said Jim Ritchings, VP of Business Development at F5 Networks. “By implementing F5, NetApp, and VMware products in concert, our customers can dynamically and cost effectively scale application resources across data centers, providing higher availability and optimized performance for multiple scenarios—including geographically dispersed users, disaster avoidance, and consolidation efforts—to avoid unplanned downtime within data centers.”

F5 has continued its collaboration with NetApp and VMware to further simplify the migration of applications between data centers. Combining F5, NetApp, and VMware technologies, customers can optimize performance to improve the effectiveness of live migrations of virtual machines as well as applications that were not originally designed for distributed deployment.

The combination of VMware vSphere®5, VMware vMotion®, NetApp FlexCache®, and F5’s BIG-IP® products enables customers to seamlessly distribute application deployments and virtual machines across multiple data centers, bolstering business continuity/disaster avoidance efforts. Through F5’s broader BIG-IP portfolio of Local Traffic Manager™, Global Traffic Manager™, and WAN Optimization Manager™ solutions, F5 ensures that user requests can be redirected and optimized throughout the migration process, meaning that systems can stay online and users maintain access to applications and data. In addition, because the solution has been validated through joint testing efforts, customers can be confident of reliable performance and optimized availability.

Availability
All F5, NetApp, and VMware products and technologies referenced in this announcement are currently available.

rPath Cloud Engine, a Cloud Application Automation Software Reaches General Availability

rPath — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:45:04 +0000

rPath, the application engine provider for the private cloud, today announces the general availability of rPath Cloud Engine, a new software solution that empowers cloud technology vendors and managed service providers with the ability to deliver critical applications with consistency, reliability and speed. In addition to end-to-end application management, rPath Cloud Engine also plugs and plays into any cloud technology ecosystem, helping these vendors and MSPs to differentiate their offering to enterprise customers with bulletproof application delivery.

“Much of the enterprise and service provider move to cloud computing environments is driven by the need for faster, more reliable delivery of applications, yet applications often get overlooked amid other investments in IT infrastructure,” said Jay Lyman, senior analyst at The 451 Group. “The automation of application deployment onto cloud infrastructures can help managed service providers and others differentiate by allowing them to more effectively leverage cloud resources and environments.”

Built on the proven system automation platform of rPath X6, rPath Cloud Engine features an unprecedented, model-driven approach to provisioning and update that is push-button simple. rPath Cloud Engine automatically generates software configurations based on an application’s current run-time environment, eliminating the need for labor-intensive, error-prone approaches to image creation, such as golden images and manual scripts.

Key features of rPath Cloud Engine Software:

Deeper RESTful API integration offers the ability to access critical applications via either web browser or rPath Cloud Engine GUI
Model-driven image creation enables push-button application delivery across heterogeneous targets, as well as on-demand systems update and rollback
Multi-tenancy enables customer base segmentation to meet unique requirements without compromising reliability, as well as role-based access control for security
Open architecture empowers customers to take advantage of new technology with ease, eliminating the risk of vendor lock-in
Comprehensive licensing, pricing, support, and services packages enable easy co-selling and OEM cloud technology bundling

”Apps drive business, and if you don’t have a reliable method for deploying and maintaining them in the cloud, you are limiting your company’s ability to fully capitalize on the economics of this rapidly-growing business model,” says Michael Torto, chief executive officer for rPath. “The rPath Cloud Engine gives MSPs and private cloud vendors a simple way to differentiate, sell more and deliver long-term business value.”

The rPath Cloud Engine is available now and can be purchased directly through rPath’s global sales organization and its certified partners. While rPath Cloud Engine can be easily integrated into any private cloud stack, information on its integration with Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud (CIAC) is currently available online.

GigaSpaces Enables Deployment of Mission-Critical Java Applications to Windows Azure

GigaSpaces — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:36:36 +0000

GigaSpaces Dedicated Edition for Azure Requires Zero Code Changes for Cloud On-Loading

GigaSpaces Technologies, a pioneer of next generation application platforms for mission-critical applications, is now offering a solution that provides seamless on-boarding for enterprise Java and big-data applications to the Windows Azure platform.

“Customers that have enterprise Java applications can leverage the GigaSpaces solution to help them transition to the Windows Azure platform,” said Prashant Ketkar, Director of Product Marketing, Windows Azure at Microsoft. “GigaSpaces is working with Microsoft to give Windows Azure customers deployment, management and monitoring capabilities for running applications in an agile and cost-effective way.”

The GigaSpaces solution for Azure leverages the company’s decade of experience in delivering application platforms for large-scale, mission-critical Java applications and was recognized at the recent Microsoft Worldwide Partners Conference as a building block for Windows Azure.

Windows Azure enables developers to build, host and scale applications in Microsoft datacenters located around the world. Developers can use existing skills with .NET, Java, Visual Studio, PHP and Ruby to quickly build solutions with no need to buy servers or set up a dedicated infrastructure. The solution also has automated service management to help protect against hardware failure and downtime associated with platform maintenance.

“Our platform enables businesses to move their applications to the cloud with no code change and minimal learning curve – meaning that they can continue to develop in their traditional environment and leverage existing skills and assets, while gaining the cost and agility benefits of deploying to the Windows Azure cloud,” says Adi Paz, EVP Marketing and Business Development at GigaSpaces. “At the same time, we provide enterprises and ISVs the ability to burst into the Windows Azure cloud at peak loads, run their pre-production on Windows Azure and save the costs associated with large-scale system testing.”

The GigaSpaces solution for Windows Azure provides the following unique values:

On-board mission critical enterprise Java/JEE/Spring and big-data applications to Windows Azure: Quickly and seamlessly, with no code change.
True enterprise-grade production environment: Continuous availability and failover, elastic scaling across the stack and automating the application deployment lifecycle.
Make Windows Azure services natively available to enterprise Java applications: Through tight integration between the GigaSpaces platform and Azure.
The GigaSpaces market-leading Java in-memory data grid: Provides extreme performance, low latency and fine-grained multi-tenancy.
Control and visibility: Built-in application- and cluster-aware monitoring.
Avoiding vendor lock-in: Enables businesses to maintain existing development practices, and provides support for any application stack.

“GigaSpaces has brought to the Windows Azure implementation more than 10 years of experience in developing and deploying enterprise-grade application platforms for large-scale deployments running mission-critical applications for the world’s largest organizations,” continues GigaSpaces’ Paz. “We look forward to bringing these same benefits to Windows Azure customers, on top of the many benefits of the Windows Azure platform.”

FlashSoft Introduces Application Acceleration Solution for VMware vSphere 5

FlashSoft — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:02:28 +0000

FlashSoft SE-V Applies Enterprise Flash To Accelerate Application Performance in Virtual Machine Environments Based on VMware vSphere 5

FlashSoft Corporation, the Flash Virtualization Company, today announced the immediate commercial availability of FlashSoft SE-V, the company’s solution for accelerating application performance on Windows Server in virtual machine environments based on VMware vSphere 5. The new solution is based on FlashSoft SE, the company’s software that enables enterprise flash as a server-tier cache, and is already used today in numerous business-critical production environments. Today FlashSoft brings the same performance benefits to applications running on virtual machines (VMs) based on the VMware ESXi software platform. The solution is available for free evaluation through a 30-day “Try Before You Buy” program: http://bit.ly/mz7R53.

Enterprise IT sees virtualization as a key to agility and value in computing infrastructure, and enterprise flash memory is a key to enabling applications to deliver necessary performance when running in virtual servers. However, as enterprise flash hardware continues to get larger and faster, it’s become apparent that a key requirement for enterprise flash is the software that enables flash memory to work as a high-performance read-write cache in the server. This “tier minus one” cache based on enterprise flash eliminates the IO bottlenecks that restrict the performance and capacity of enterprise applications, especially when running in virtual servers.

FlashSoft SE-V is designed specifically for Windows Server instances running on VMs supported by the VMware ESXi platform. In performance tests, a standard OLTP application suite based on MS-SQL was accelerated by more than 3X — the same kind of performance acceleration that FlashSoft SE provides in non-virtual server environments.

“The core of FlashSoft SE-V is based on our proven FlashSoft SE product, so it delivers the same degree of performance and reliability that our customers enjoy with our current product,” said Ted Sanford, founder and CEO of FlashSoft. “Now IT managers can apply flash memory to enhance application performance in virtual machines based on the VMware platform.”

Performance Report, User Guide and Video Available

To introduce the FlashSoft Solution for VMware environments, FlashSoft is providing a set of technical bulletins for IT administrators, including:

“Accelerating Application Performance on Virtual Machines” – this guide provides an overview of the solution architecture and provides the result of several performance tests to demonstrate the solution’s ability to enhance application performance on the VMware platform: http://www.flashsoft.com/flashsoft-SE-V-performance-report
“User’s Guide to FlashSoft SE on VMware” – this guide gives step-by-step instructions for the installation and configuration of the FlashSoft software in a VMware environment and provides practical guidance on performance optimization.
“See For Yourself” video – Hosted on the FlashSoft website, this brief video provides a side-by-side performance comparison of applications running in VMs: http://www.flashsoft.com/videos.html

In addition, FlashSoft is extending its 30-day “Try Before You Buy” program to its VMware solution. Due to the unique evaluation requirements of VMware environments, the evaluation program for VMware software will allow FlashSoft SE to be installed on multiple VMs on a single host server.

Both FlashSoft SE and FlashSoft SE-V offer technical advantages including:

Provides a persistent read-write cache in the compute tier.
Compatible with any SSD: SATA, SAS or PCIe.
Requires no modifications to data, applications or storage; the SSD-based cache is completely transparent to the server and storage infrastructure.
Automatically tunes over 60 operational parameters to support specific SSD architectures and application types.
Minimal server overhead; optimized metadata management and cache design enable 100MB of server memory to manage 1TB of flash, utilizing only 5% of CPU.

Pricing and Availability
FlashSoft SE-V for Windows Server/VMware is available for evaluation and purchase now. To learn more about the 30-day “Try Before You Buy” program, visit http://bit.ly/mz7R53. The new FlashSoft SE-V product is licensed for use in multiple Windows Server VMs running on a single VMware server. License cost is based on the number of virtual machines on the server and the SSD or PCIe flash card used to host the cache.

SAP, Microsoft To Make Cloud Management and App Development Easier

Microsoft — Tue, 24 May 2011 07:23:51 +0000

Microsoft’s broad partner ecosystem is what powers increased value and solutions for customers and their evolving business needs.

One example of this is today’s announcement of SAP and Microsoft’s plans to focus on two key areas: first, to help .NET Framework developers more easily build applications connecting to SAP, and second, to help customers harness the power of the cloud.

As a result of this announcement, developers can expect much more support and integration between the development worlds of SAP and Microsoft. Business processes from SAP software can now be easily consumed and extended by .NET developers, simplifying the overall application development process. This level of access will immediately reduce the number of steps developers must take in order to ensure application integration, and also lead to shorter development cycles and lower costs.

Microsoft and SAP also plan to provide integration between SAP’s landscape management software, Microsoft System Center and Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V technology, bringing greater agility to cloud management and deployments.

This integration will instill enhanced flexibility, scalability and management in the cloud, all while reducing cost and risk. Through these connected offerings, SAP and Microsoft customers will be able to easily scale their deployments in their own data centers or through private clouds, for example, if they have a workload that needs on-demand scale periodically, such as a paycheck or employee performance review application.

Together, Microsoft and SAP are committed to driving greater levels of innovation and flexibility for application development and cloud deployment – from your datacenter to the public cloud, eventually enabling hybrid computing scenarios via Windows Azure for companies to embrace cloud computing on their terms.

This announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® NOW, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 15-18, 2011 where Microsoft was also named SAP Global Technology Partner of the Year.