SSD options for Virtual (and Physical) Environments: Part I Spinning up to speed on SSD

Solid-state devices (SSDs) are data storage memory (Figure 1) mediums that utilize semiconductor based memoires as opposed to magnetic media found in hard disk drives (HDDs) or magnetic tape. Semiconductor memories include ultra fast volatile dynamic random access memory (DRAM) commonly found as main memory (e.g. RAM) in servers along with and non-volatile memory (NVM) typically NAND flash. Nand flash based SSDs can be found in cameras (as SD cards), cell phones, iPods, and PDAs, as well as in notebooks, net books, laptops, tablets, and workstations. SSDs are also appearing in larger servers, appliances, and storage systems from consumer to enterprise level.

Quest Aiming to Own Desktop Virtualization Market with vWorkspace 7.5

Quest has for many years found itself as third-place runner-up to Citrix and VMware in the VDI business. In some respects this was justified, in others much less so. Quest has neither the resources or virtualization focus of Citrix and VMware, nor does it have the same the channel depth or marketing budget of its competitors, making it too easy to paint a picture of Quest being an also ran. However, at the same time Quest has been a credible competitor to Citrix for much longer than VMware and has managed to deliver a unified VDI and RDS solution in vWorkspace – something that neither Citrix nor VMware have been able to achieve as yet. More importantly, as Citrix’s level of innovation in XenDesktop and XenApp has slowed, and VMware has focused more End User Computing resources on Horizon, Quest has sensed an opportunity and last week’s release of vWorkspace 7.5 clearly shows that it is making the most of it.

Browsium Ion: time to get going from IE6?

Reports on IE6’s death are often greatly exaggerated. IE6 is still there alive and well in a large swathe of enterprise desktops. This puts a risk on projects that look to move an organisation beyond Windows XP. Browsium’s Ion addresses the fear uncertainty and doubt many had with Unibrows. Browsium Ion gives corporate users what will likely be a vital option not just for compatibility for IE6, but to allow for changing configurations and managing web based application access to suit the business, not the application vendor.

Virtualization Security is NOT Cloud Security!

I and others look at Virtualization Security constructs with an eye towards Cloud Security, but they are not necessarily the same. Granted for some clouds, virtualization security can lead to cloud security but this really depends on how the cloud’s architecture. Even so, what we know from Virtualization Security WILL apply to Cloud Security and will be the basis for best practices. But you say, my cloud does not use Virtualizaiton? Ah ha, I say, but it is still a cloud? And that implies there are similar security concerns. This was the discussion on the 1/26 Virtualization Security Podcast.

RES Software Announce HyperDrive: follow-me-data more than sharing files or dropping stuff in a box

RES is joining a crowded party of file sharing solutions but they bring a cloud pricing license structure to a on-premise file sharing solution. The RES Hyperdrive solution can span a range of end-devices be they VDI, desktop or a hybrid and at an interesting price point. With clients for PC, Mac, Windows mobile, Blackberry, ipad, iphone and android RES Hyperdrive is very much worthy of consideration to help you manage data delivery to your end-device estate.