GigaOM

The virtualization of systems allows for efficient use of server resources and is clearly a trend that many enterprises are embracing. Systems engineers see virtualization as the next generation of tools that can help scale their servers, while network engineers see the virtualization trend headed in their direction as well. Unfortunately, it seems that server virtualization also helps foster trench warfare between the two.

I found myself witness to one small skirmish in this battle today, when I met with a startup looking for funding. The startup is building enterprise services, and for its next generation plans to make heavy use of XenSource’s XenMotion functionality to manage virtual machines on about 50 physical servers. This functionality, which is similar to that of VMware’s VMotion, promises to seamlessly move a virtual machine from one physical server to another. The startup’s service product could be running in one virtual machine on a server and if the server receives too much load or has a failure, the XenMotion functionality could move the virtual machine to another server without resulting in any downtime. For an enterprise services startup, avoiding downtime is a good idea.

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The movement toward blade servers in the enterprise data center has been growing steadily for some time, backed by manufacturers like IBM and HP. But expect to soon see networking giant Cisco Systems enter this market as well, setting themselves up for a tense battle with blade server manufacturers for control of the enterprise data center.

Earlier this year Cisco introduced their next generation of data center switches, the Nexus 7000 series. While many in the industry saw this announcement as playing catch-up to the likes of Force10 in the data center switching market, the blade server market took notice. Cisco is not a blade server manufacturer -– they are a networking company pushing the envelope of their areas of expertise in an attempt to keep their place in the enterprise data center. They already produce Linux-based blades for their Catalyst 6500 Series switches, so it seems logical to expect that a blade server will appear shortly in the Nexus 7000 Series. Continue »

If only it were green. That’s what I found myself thinking after Sun Microsystems said it’s paid an undisclosed amount for Innotek, the makers of open-source desktop virtualization software VirtualBox Virtual Machine. With an earth-friendly spin, Innoteck could have created a trifecta of buzzwords that would have really pumped up its valuation.

However open source (please recall Sun just spent $1 billion buying open source database guru MySQL) and virtualization (think VMWare’s buy of Thinstall in January), are plenty good, especially given that Citrix paid $500 million for open source server virtualization company XenSource. For those of you wondering who might be next, think about Parallels (formerly known as SWSoft), whose software competes against VirtualBox.

Google, which has been battling Facebook for talent recently, is facing an attack from another source. VMWare, the server and PC virtualization company that went public this summer, is hiring all the engineers it can find. Ann Winblad, a general partner at venture capital firm Hummer Winblad, recently quipped:

“As much as we all love [VMWare CEO] Dianne Green, we have to figure out a way of stopping VMWare from hiring all the engineers in the Valley.”

VMWare (VMW), despite a recent slide in its stock price, has a hefty market cap of over $31 billion. Too bad they can’t virtualize the engineers! Who would you rather work for: Google, VMWare, Facebook — or someone else? (Take our poll below the fold.) Continue »