Server Virtualization Technology: An Introduction to Vmware, Microsoft, and Citrix Virtual Technology Solutions
When it comes to server virtualization solutions, there are number of options out there to choose from. But there are really only three vendors that dominant the market; VMware, Microsoft, and Citrix. VMware is currently considered the king and one of the original developers of the virtual server industry. Recently, Microsoft and Citrix have made some good headway with their solutions that has driven a more competitive market place for server virtualization technology solutions.
VMware
VMware first started virtualization of the x86 platform back in the 1990s to address underutilization of the computing environment. This made VMware the pioneers for virtualization as the technology didn’t really take off until the 2000s. Now VMware is considered the global leader in the virtualization industry, with it owning the majority of the enterprise market place.
vSphere, VMware’s main product, is a software bundle of virtualization solutions. vSphere provides the following benefits that help solve a number of business related challenges:
•Reduces capital and operation costs by consolidating servers and limiting the additional need for hardware.
•Builds a foundation for business continuity by utilizing enhanced maintenance and backup solutions from traditional server technology.
•Lowers the cost of IT support and allows the IT staff to take a more strategic role in supporting business needs.
Microsoft
Microsoft was next in arriving to the virtualization industry. Microsoft realized the future of the network server industry is in virtualization, which lead to the development and released of Hyper-V in 2008. Hyper-V competes directly with VMware. With Hyper-V, Microsoft has been very active in building management solutions to support multi-vendor virtualization solutions. For instance, Microsoft’s System Center Virtual Machine Manager supports VMware environments plus added Unix and Linux support as well. With Windows 2008 and it’s free hypervisor, Microsoft has been gaining ground among midsize companies.
Citrix
Citrix acquired XenSource in 2007, which opened the doors for it to be the next big contender in the virtualization environment. With its remote access technologies bundled with XenSource, Citrix was able to provide a number of virtualization solutions including XenServer. However, Citrix took “free” application to a new level when they offered XenCenter, a central management tool, and XenMotion which provides live migration of a virtual machine to another host without any downtime. This is a decent offering considering VMware’s comparable solution could cost a couple thousand dollars.
The Future of Virtualization Technology
With more business building virtualization environments, VMware, Microsoft, and Citrix recognize the next level is using virtualization as foundation for cloud computing. Taking a virtual network environment to cloud computing can greatly improve business continuity and network access to remote users. For some business, private clouds can easily be built with in the current network environment. While others can easily adopt into a public cloud network environment as a cheaper alternative.
Today, VMware remains the winner when it comes to server virtualization technology and solutions, but the competition is heating up with Microsoft and Citrix. As each of these three main virtualization vendors compete against each to gain market share, the users of virtualization technology will benefit as server environments will be simpler and less expensive to manage.
