Continuity Software is a provider of Disaster Recovery Management (DRM) solutions. Its RecoverGuard software mitigates disaster recovery (DR) risks by detecting data protection gaps and vulnerabilities between customers' primary production and disaster recovery sites and/or localized DR solution. With RecoverGuard software, customers can now confidently validate their DR strategy, and ultimately, ensure their data protection and business continuity goals.

InMage Systems announced a partnership with Marathon Technologies. Marathon will offer InMage's flagship DR-Scout solution to its customer base. Marathon representatives will be fully trained in sales, service and support for DR-Scout. The combination of DR-Scout with Marathon's everRun line of products results in the highest levels of availability and protection for applications, data and networks in physical and virtual server environments, and across geographically dispersed or remote locations.

Oracle announced new releases of Oracle Berkeley DB, Oracle Berkeley DB XML and Oracle Berkeley DB Java Edition. The new releases and enhancements signify Oracle's commitment to continued innovation across the Oracle Berkeley DB product family, while maintaining the open source dual license business model.

Beijing PowerUnique Technologies announced it has joined the VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program. The VMware TAP program helps technology vendors integrate their products with VMware virtualization software and deliver solutions to mutual customers.

Tek-Tools Software announced the latest version of its Profiler Suite with enhancements to continue to support customer requirements for managing virtualized and physical IT assets - servers, storage, backup and applications - from a single console. Virtualization provides almost immediate improvements in resource utilization and flexibility. However, it also impacts the way in which every component of the IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, backups, and applications, must be managed. Over time, organizations find that the derived benefits of virtualization are offset by the complexity of managing a virtualized environment.

Tek-Tools announced that it has joined the VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program. The VMware TAP program helps technology vendors integrate their products with VMware virtualization software and deliver timely, joint solutions to mutual customers.

Citrix Systems announced European language and telephone system support for the Citrix EasyCall feature in Citrix XenDesktop. EasyCall, which is also available as a feature of Citrix XenApp and Citrix NetScaler, provides a way of seamlessly integrating communications into any application. With its newest release, EasyCall now includes German, French and Spanish (Castilian) language capabilities as well as integration with leading European telephone systems from Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent. As a result, customers delivering virtual desktops with XenDesktop can now provide an even richer experience to end users in more countries around the world.

Open source applications provider Red Hat has introduced three applications targeting enterprise-wide adoption of next-generation virtualization. It has introduced embedded Linux Hypervisor for hosting virtualized Linux and Windows environments, which provide virtualization with improved security, high performance, and a wide range of hardware.

Red Hat announced advancements that extend the Company's Linux Automation strategy by providing expanded capabilities and incorporating broadened community involvement for secure management of both users and systems across virtual and physical enterprise infrastructures.

Virtual Foresight is a policy-based virtualization management product that delivers out-of-the box best practices for enforcing IT Operations and Security policies. Acting as a critical control point, Virtual Foresight ensures policy enforcement throughout the lifecycle of a virtual machine regardless of location or state.

Cloud Computing, in its current incarnation, falls short on its promise to make computing as a whole as simple as plugging an application into a utility service. Kirill Sheynkman, Founder & CEO of Elastra Corporation, will be giving a session on Elastic Computing vs. Cloud Computing at SYS-CON's 'Cloud Computing Expo' (November 20-21, 2008) - a brand new adjunct to the 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo being held at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA.

VMware and Inspur announced an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement to further accelerate the adoption of VMware virtualization in China. Inspur is selling, distributing and supporting VMware's datacenter virtualization and management suite, VMware Infrastructure, on Inspur server systems. The two companies will collaborate on market development, product sales, professional training and customer acquisition as well as technical services. The relationship enables both companies to develop virtualization solutions that effectively meet China's market demands, leveraging the performance and scalability of Inspur servers with VMware virtualization to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve business continuity, strengthen security and reduce energy consumption.

VMware announced that the top universities from the Times-QS World University Rankings have deployed VMware virtualization solutions to reduce capital and operating costs, increase application and system uptime, decrease power consumption and improve disaster preparedness. Harvard, which is number one on the list of 100, and Cambridge, which is tied for the second spot, head the list of prestigious schools that have deployed VMware solutions.

VMware has cut an OEM deal with Inspur, the Chinese company whose name used to be Langchao and said to be the largest native server maker. Inspur will bundle and support VMware's Infrastructure 3 widgetry on its servers. Inspur says there's little virtualization deployment experience in China.

BDNA announced BDNA Insight 5.0, adding several new features, support for virtual environments, and a Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model. Providing a complete system of record of networked resources, as well as analytics for security, procurement, and operations, BDNA Insight gives executives in the Office of the CIO the comprehensive business view required for managing today's complex and changing IT environments.

McAfee announced that it is participating in the VMware Alliance Affiliate Initiative. As part of this initiative, McAfee is launching an enhanced channel partner offering to provide extra incentives to top SecurityAlliance partners who jointly sell McAfee security solutions with their VMware virtualization engagements.

Novell announced Invitrogen has selected SUSE Linux Enterprise as the core operating platform to standardize and virtualize the company's servers. A global provider of essential life science technologies for research, production and diagnostics, Invitrogen conducts business in more than 70 countries and offers 35,000 products and services. With the flexibility of SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell, the company will reduce server licensing costs, virtualize with support on the VMware platform and simplify migration from Windows and UNIX servers to Linux.

Altor Networks announced that its Virtual Network Security Analyzer (VNSA) is now a VMware Certified Virtual Appliance and available through the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace. Virtual appliances are pre-built software solutions, composed of one or more virtual machines, which are packaged, maintained, updated and deployed as a unit. Virtual appliances are fundamentally changing how software is developed, distributed, and managed, providing greater simplicity and accelerated time to value.

VLX for Network Infrastructure 3.0 is VirtualLogix's Real-Time Virtualization software, designed to address the demanding environments of communications equipment. With VLX for Network Infrastructure, VirtualLogix is meeting the needs of embedded network infrastructure equipment makers as they work to create high-performance products, From core network elements to access point devices, VLX for Network Infrastructure 3.0 virtualizes the processing hardware, enabling flexible and efficient software solutions for new converged networks.

VMware announced that Campbell Clinic Orthopaedics (Campbell Clinic) has deployed VMware Infrastructure 3 to virtualize its mission-critical applications and create a flexible, easily administered virtual infrastructure. VMware offers enterprise-class functionality in deployment sizes that fit the needs of small and midsize businesses (SMBs). The Campbell Clinic is one of thousands of SMBs that utilize VMware's proven and reliable cost-effective solutions to optimize their existing IT investments. VMware provides the scalability and flexibility for customers to buy what they need today and evolve their virtualization solutions as their business needs grow.

VMware released their new application virtualization solution called ThinApp that was acquired from Thinstall earlier this year. ThinApp is a bit different than most of the other app virtualization solutions on the market as at the end of the day IT is left with a standalone application package (.exe file) that can be deployed to any Windows device (32 or 64bit) through your existing application deployment mechanisms.

Red Hat saw earnings rise 6.6% to $17.3 million, or eight cents a share in its first fiscal quarter ended May 31 on revenue up 32% year-over-year and 11% sequentially to $156.6 million. EPS was dead flat year-over-year. Subscription revenue was $130.7 million, up 27% year-over-year and up 7% sequentially. Training and services were up 64% to $25.9 million.

DataCore announced that Alchemy Plus is using DataCore's SANmelody solution to provide a hosted server virtualization farm environment for small businesses under a 'Pay as You Use' utility computing framework. Alchemy Plus' data center is located in Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands. David Massey, Chief Technology Officer at Alchemy Plus, noted, 'We wanted to bring the power and efficiencies of virtualization to smaller organizations that typically were only running a single server or a couple of servers at most. We knew in order to succeed that we would have to develop a model that was as cost effective as it was functionality rich, using the principles of utility computing ? a concept where the customer only pays for what is used.'

Setting up and managing Blade Servers in complex network environments is streamlined and simplified thanks to the introduction of ServerView Virtual-I/O Manager from Fujitsu Siemens Computers. Through the virtualization of physical network addresses within PRIMERGY Blade Servers, ServerView Virtual-I/O Manager (ServerView VIOM) removes an entire layer of complexity from current Blade Server switching architectures.

Web hosting server virtualization, automation and software provider, Parallels, has launched with Quest Software, a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) bundle, designed to offer a centralized Windows desktop deployment and management platform. The end-to-end stack is hoped to reduce the management and security headache of desktop computing, and reduces the investment required in hardware and software licenses.

Health care organizations -- faced with a staggering influx of information from patient medical records and billing and claims to data on medical discoveries -- are turning to Dell and virtualization to help cure their data storage and management challenges. According to a recent report by Forrester Research, current server utilization in many data centers is hovering around 10 percent to 20 percent1. By adopting virtualization, these IT environments can increase efficiency and reap the maximum benefits of an efficient IT infrastructure. This efficiency becomes even more critical as the influx of data continues to grow as the number of devices connected to the network, including PCs, RFID devices, and tablet and notebook computers expands.

Parallels announced it is collaborating with HP to offer Parallels Virtuozzo Containers to HP Integrity server customers who want to virtualize business-critical Windows and Linux workloads. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers has been validated to run on HP Integrity servers, including the largest 64-processor HP Integrity Superdome servers, addressing the needs of customers who require Windows and Linux-based Itanium virtualization.

Embotics launched V-Commander 2.0. Embotics' V-Commander 2.0 reduces risks and costs by preventing virtual sprawl, automating lifecycle management and extending management systems for enterprise CIOs, CSOs, IT operations staff and security professionals. The technology gives the industry a simple tool to prevent sprawl, gain control of their virtual infrastructure and increase efficiency.

Pano Logic announced that it has signed more than 150 customers since shipping the company's first flagship Pano Virtual Desktop Solution (VDS) in December 2007. The recent introduction of Pano VDS 2.0 has accelerated this growth, helping the company double its customer base. Pano Logic's customers come from a variety of industries including education, healthcare, government and technology, and comprise such organizations as Athleta, Bank of Montreal, Boise State University, CIBC, Embraer, Miles & Stockbridge, SanDisk, and University of Maryland, to name a few.

Boomi announced it has raised $4 million in its first institutional round of financing. The investment will be used to accelerate Boomi's go-to-market strategy and further secure the company's high standing position as a provider of cloud-based data and application integration services.

Shavlik Technologies provides automated, continuous patch assessment and remediation of the total virtual world, including Offline Virtual Images. Continuous assessment and remediation results in a network that is more secure and that reduces operational costs related to managing patches in physical and virtual environments.

Regardless of the downturn in the markets, Morgan Stanley is on track to spend more than ever on their IT budget. They seem to think that during periods of lower economic activity it gives them a rare opportunity to establish themselves in new areas of emerging technology that may give them a competitive advantage down the road.

It is easy to dismiss Don Dodge's piece today asking 'Do You Really Want Your Data in the Cloud?' as a Microsoft guy defending their turf. He uses some recent uptime problems at Amazon, Twitter, Disqus and Typepad to show that keeping your information in the cloud and relying on the net to deliver your applications gives you less control, less security, less scalability and less reliability.

Netuitive announced new virtualization management capabilities in its Netuitive Service Analyzer product. Netuitive Service Analyzer is a self-learning correlation software for managing performance of enterprise applications across mixed physical and virtual environments. Netuitive Service Analyzer has already earned acclaim for providing the only self-learning and continuously adaptive software for automating BSM. With new capabilities announced, customers can manage the performance of enterprise applications end-to-end, across distributed servers, databases and network systems - that are both physical and virtual.

ScaleMP, a provider of virtualization solutions, has announced that vSMP Foundation Standalone, its patent-pending virtualization software, is now available for the IBM BladeCenter HS21 XM blade server. In conjunction with IBM BladeCenter H, ScaleMP claims to enable the aggregation of up to 14 dual-processor blades within an integrated chassis to create a single virtual symmetric multiprocessor (SMP). Customers are now able to aggregate up to 112 Intel Xeon processing cores and up to 448GB of shared memory.

QLogic announced that QLogic and Microsoft achieved performance results that demonstrate near-native transaction performance for a virtualized computing environment. The companies tested storage area network (SAN)-attached, Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtual machines and achieved I/O performance that closely matches the 200,000 IOs per second performance native with QLogic 8Gb adapters and Windows Server 2008. By comparison, I/O performance on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, the hypervisor-based virtualization technology that is a feature of select versions of Windows Server 2008, was at least 90 percent and as much as 97 percent of the native I/O performance across a data range for enterprise applications.

VirtualLogix announced expanded support for the Windows operating system, delivering a commercial solution that enables Microsoft Windows Vista to operate side-by-side with real-time operating systems (RTOS) for performance critical systems. With VirtualLogix VLX, developers can leverage virtualization technology to gain the enhanced features of Windows Vista and align with Microsoft's roadmap.

GemStone announced a partnership with HCL Penstock, the financial services product engineering group of HCL Technologies, to meet ultra low-latency requirements of financial firms. HCL will leverage GemStone's GemFire solution for its Enterprise Risk and Compliance product suite. The combined solution will offer a high performance, in-memory distributed operational data infrastructure that supports low latency, high scalability and resiliency along with high throughput data sharing.

'Traditionally people have tied their software to their hardware. Virtualization changes all that,' said Dr Stephen Herrod, CTO of VMware, the 10-year old Virtualization giant. Herrod gave a highly informative Morning Keynote today in New York City at the 3rd International Virtualization Conference & Expo, in the stately setting of the Grand Ballroom at New York's historic Roosevelt Hotel.

RightScale announced RightScale Manager for MySQL Enterprise, an offering designed to make it easier for organizations to deploy MySQL databases in the Amazon Web Services cloud. Starting July 1, RightScale customers will receive the benefits of RightScale's automation and scale-on-demand cloud management platform, coupled with MySQL Enterprise premium-level support for large database applications.