Another successful small business virtualisation with VM6

Details of an instalation of VM6 VMex by one of our partners in Europe, Larry Doyle from Netforce.

Read more here.

 

To the cloud…what does that mean?

Have you noticed the new Microsoft commercials invading mainstream TV these days? “To the cloud with Windows live” it says. Microsoft seems to be bringing the cloud conversation to everyday lives…not limiting it to the IT industry anymore.

But it’s not just Microsoft. We got an email the other day from a research company stating that “IT is a fashion industry, and cloud computing is the new black.” Really??

With all these commercials, unsolicited emails and whatnot, it’s not surprising that “the cloud” has become more of a question than a solution. In fact, the concept of “the cloud” can mean something completely different, depending on who you talk to. And yes, information about the cloud abounds, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to a concise definition. Everyone wants in on the cloud these days. Almost everyone is selling it, and letting you know that you need it. In fact, might we be so bold as to suggest that vendors who are selling the cloud aren’t necessarily changing their product to be cloud ready…but are instead changing the definition of cloud to suit their products?

It’s no secret that the cloud is the technology of the future, but standardization needs to be put into place to define it before it can be universally understood and adopted. And of course, it should not be forgotten that the right choice in virtualization solutions will help ease the transition to the cloud, whenever those standards are implemented.

Five things VM6 Software is Thankful For

In preparation for Thanksgiving in the US next week, we thought we’d share the top five things that we are thankful for:

5. VMware and Microsoft – Thank you for paving the way for other virtualization technologies to exist. Thank you also for bringing the need for virtualization to the small and medium businesses to the forefront. Without you, SMBs might not know about other vendors (like us).

4. Metis Communications– Our awesome PR firm: For being easily accessible, helping to elaborate our press strategy and for putting us in front of all the right people. We’ve been able to gain so much visibility from their efforts.

3.  Our investors – Ignition Partners and RBC Venture Partners: Thanks for putting your faith in our team and helping us get to market.

2. Our partners – Each and every day new partners are learning about the benefits of VM6 Software. We thank them for their enthusiasm, their willingness to embrace new technology, and their efforts to promote VM6 Software to get more SMBs to experience the benefits of our solution.

1. Our customers – You, naturally, help make us successful. Thank you for using our software.

Okay…and one more. We’re also thankful for turkey. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

VM6 Software travels to Tech-Ed Europe

This week, we travelled to Berlin, Germany to participate in the System Centre Partner Pavilion atTech-Ed Europe. It’s always fun travelling to different parts of the world and introducing people to our product and what VM6 VMex can do for small and medium business looking for virtualization solutions. What’s even more interesting is that the needs of SMBs are the same, regardless of what country you’re in. As with our North American customers, storage is a big concern for many SMB. The fact that we eliminate the need for an external storage solution by creating a virtual SAN enclosure from just two x-86 servers peaks a lot of interest from many people. And with our reasonable price point, it’s hard not to be drawn into the value of VM6 VMex. We’ve heard it before, “it’s too good to be true.” But the fact of the matter is that it’s not, really. When you understand the realities of the small and medium business, it isn’t hard to create a product that addresses those needs and at a price point that SMBs can relate to. Give us a call and see for yourself.

The decision to implement Storage Area Networks (SANs)

We came across the article “Time for SMBs to look at SANs” last week on the SC Magazine website(http://www.securecomputing.net.au/Feature/236150,time-for-smbs-to-look-at-sans.aspx) and it brought up some key points that small and medium businesses need to consider when thinking about storage:

1. With today’s increasing digital data, running a business without a comprehensive data storage solution could be detrimental to your business. Sure, you could live with backing up your solutions once a day, but what if your systems go down mid day? Then you’ve effectively lost a half a day worth of data. Can you live with that type of risk?
2. Additional redundancy infrastructure is now a necessity, given the constant inflow of data. It is crucial to keep the amount of time it takes to recover data in case of a failure (a concept called “recovery time objective” or RTO) as short as possible so that downtime is minimal.
3. SMBs need to utilise resources efficiently to squeeze what they can out of their investments. Failure to address storage and recovery issues with foresight can mean that an SMB is one catastrophe away from enduring a devastating loss of valuable business information. Preventative care is not only prudent, but it is an effective use of resources that will maximise return on investment

All very important points that SMBs need to think about. If cost has been a barrier to implementing a storage solution, there are an increasing number of entry-level SANs that have superior features and priced specifically for the SMB.

Alternately, have you thought about solutions that don’t require you to purchase an external SAN at all? Often, the price and expertise needed to purchase a SAN prohibits SMBs from having a complete storage solution. VM6 Software has taken both barriers out of the equation and enables SMBs to create a virtual SAN enclosure by leveraging any two x86 servers in their environment. What could be simpler?

Scott Tam mentions that, “The future is now for SMBs: enterprise-level data protection that is cost effective, secure, scalable, energy-saving, economical, and easy to use, install, and maintain is well within reach.” Take a look at VM6 VMex. The results could surprise you.

Does virtualization really need to be complicated?

Last week was a really busy week for us. From the east coast to the west coast, we had the pleasure of presenting at various Microsoft user groups and exhibiting in Las Vegas at the SMB Nation event.

As we were at these events, we noticed that there were certain trends among IT people working in a SMB environment, as well as partners who sell to the SMB market. Here’s what we learned:

• There are a lot of small and medium sized businesses looking to adopt virtualization technologies, but struggling to find the right solution that offers the benefits at the right price point and functionality.
• A lot of people are looking to purchase a SAN (storage area network), which makes a lot of sense from a business standpoint, but is also interesting for us to hear, considering the fact that SANs do not typically come at reasonable price point.
• High Availability is also becoming a critical issue for SMBs.

It’s no secret that SMBs have a harder time adopting new technologies the way large enterprises do, primarily because of their budget and staffing constraints. So it was great to see the positive response to our solution, VM6 VMex. By offering a solution that incorporates virtual shared storage, advanced clustering, virtual desktop management and a management and monitoring console in one product, we are able to provide a complete virtualization solution at significantly lower TCO than traditional solutions. As well, by being able to take the internal disks from any two x-86 servers, we reduce the need to purchase an external SAN (storage area network), making storage more affordable for SMBs. Finally, with our advanced clustering technology, we are able to create a complete high available infrastructure again, within one product offering.

The excitement is contagious. The more SMBs continue to embrace our technology and the more excited they are about the possibilities that we offer them, the more excited we get about wanting to let everyone know about the options that are available to them. So no, virtualization doesn’t need to be complicated. Nor does it need to be expensive. It is now within the reach of all SMBs.

Special thanks to the following user groups for letting us be part of their meetings:

• Michael Cocanower at the Arizona SBS User Group
• Ed Correia at the BASBITs meeting group
• Steve Banks at the Puget Sound Small Business Server User Group
• Ray Young at the Chicago Windows User Group
• Sterling Chamberlain at the San Diego SMBTN IT professionals group

VM6 Software at SMB Nation

What if Small and Medium Businessess ruled the virtualization world?

Virtualization can no longer really be considered a “new” technology. By now, the benefits of virtualization have been well documented:

•  Efficiency and cost reduction – Virtualization technologies increase the utilization of servers and storage, running the IT infrastructure more efficiently and at a lower cost. 
• Simplification of management and maintenance – Organizations are using virtualization to reduce (planned) downtime by relocating workloads before systems undergo planned maintenance or upgrades.
• Improving availability and disaster recovery – Through the use of virtualization, two of the main obstacles for disaster recovery (DR) are overcome: Organizations can have fewer systems at the DR site to run the virtual workloads and recovery can be done on dissimilar hardware, both of which significantly reduce the cost of the DR site.

While it appears that virtualization is being uniformly adopted by all organizations, the reality is that it’s not. Sure, large enterprises with large data centers and large budgets have been reaping the benefits of virtualization for a number of years now, but what about the small and medium sized businesses (SMBs)? The truth is this is a relatively untapped market for virtualization technology vendors. Not because SMBs don’t see the value in it, but more so because the cost of adoption (and by cost we mean the actual price of the product as well as the cost of training, deployment, etc.) has typically been too high for smaller businesses to justify.

However, the big three virtualization players know the power of the SMBs when it comes to domination of a product in the market. Sure, large enterprises have more money to spend, but if SMBs ruled the virtualization world, the virtualization vendors know that the product most adopted by the SMBs is the one that will reign supreme.

This is great news for SMBS….except when it comes to actually evaluating virtualization technologies. SMBs need to really understand what is being offered and evaluate if the products are really well suited for their environment. But with all the solutions out there, how do you know which one to choose? How do you navigate through all the information out there, to get what you need and to know what will answer your virtualization questions?

This is where we step in. We want to investigate everything that has to do with virtualization for the SMB. What are the topics that affect you most? What are the technologies that you need to be most aware of? What kind of information do you need to make the most educated decision on the solution that is right for you? Join us on this journey and visit us often as we discuss the latest trends, articles, news, personal ramblings and everything related to virtualization for SMBs.