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IBM and Intel Team on Server Virtualization Tools

Posted on: Friday, 15 December 2006, 06:00 CST

IBM and Intel Corp have announced they would work together on new tools to improve how IT managers select, deploy and measure virtualized server systems for data centers.

One of the first tools they plan to develop is a new virtualization benchmarking methodology called vConsolidate. It will run multiple instances of consolidated database, mail, Web and JAVA workloads in multiple virtual CPU partitions on Intel-based x servers to simulate real-world server performance in a typical environment, said the companies.

The pair will contribute the vConsolidate methodology to an industry standards body for consideration.

The goal is to make it easier for enterprises to adopt their virtualization technologies and compare processor platforms and system configurations, said Intel server platform group marketing general manager Boyd Davis, in a statement.

The companies also have created a VMware infrastructure-sizing guide with the aim of helping customers choose and configure their virtualized server systems.

It provides recommendations for target utilization rates, the total number of virtual machines that will be needed to run the application, and the number of physical servers required to support the computing workload and goals.

It also promises to identify an economy of scale for larger server configurations based on the ability to support more applications when usage peaks, conservation of reserve memory across virtual machines on a server, and more processor targets for scheduling job execution.

IBM also said it expects to open a Virtualization Resource Center early next year, in which customers can apply principles gleaned from vConsolidate. The center also is expected to help resellers translate the general benefits of using large Intel Xeon processor-based servers to specific "proof of concept" application tests conducted over 30- to 60-day studies.

Source: Datamonitor

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