Virtualization

Smart CIOs will be looking at client virtualization with open eyes, particularly in this economic environment.

It's unlikely that Amazon will put Akamai or Limelight out of business with its new CloudFront service. But there's a good chance we'll look back in a few years and see CloudFront has transformed content delivery networks much as Ford transformed cars, by making them affordable to many more businesses.

Want your life encapsulated on a virtual machine that travels from phone to phone? Sounds good to BlackBerry and iPhone users. Get ready IT departments: Virtualization's going mobile.

You can explain cloud computing to the CFO in terms he'll get, like "pay as you drink". But beware: What the CFO may like best about cloud is the ability to grab power back from IT.

The revolutionary aspects of Azure have barely been touched on by all the commentary about the new cloud computing offering.

Virtualization and cloud computing lead Gartner's Top 10 list of strategic technologies for 2009. But as for a client virtualization, make sure you understand the whole picture.

Cloud computing has reached the silly season for hype, but look closer: some companies are already cashing in on its power to revolutionize the way IT deals with infrastructure.

The next generation of VMware products, whether they're called VI4 or VDC-OS, will make integration of security, storage, networking and other disciplines easier. Waiting until then to train the people responsible for that integration is just asking for trouble, or delays or both.

Cloud omputing experts, including VMware co-founder Mendel Rosenblum, say virtualization will become mainly an underpinning to cloud computing. So why aren't VMware and Microsoft making it easier to mix and match virtualization products in a way that's absolutely necessary in the cloud?

Abetted by ThinApps, VMware vApps may make application management and provisioning a lot easier, but will require even more attention to security in depth, real-time monitoring and auditing after an incident.