2006.October.17 — Rapid growth, rising costs, and unpredictable spikes in workloads are keeping IT managers on their toes. Companies need to be able to quickly deploy new services and applications but can no longer afford the high costs of energy, real estate, and complexity associated with server sprawl. Seeking increased business agility, enterprises are looking to virtualization technologies to get more out of their computing resources.
Sun Virtualization (03:10)
Walk through how Sun delivers virtualization infrastructure using Sun innovative technology with John Fowler,EVP, Systems.
Sun Microsystems' comprehensive approach to virtualization lets customers apply the right technology in the right place at the right time. Today Sun is expanding its offerings with new systems, technologies, services, and tools that make it even easier for customers to simplify datacenters and maximize resource use through virtualization:
Certification for VMware ESX Server 3.0.1 virtualization software on x64-based Sun Blade 8000 Modular Systems and soon on Sun Fire X4600 M2 servers
New and enhanced virtualization services, methodologies, and tools for simplifying implementations, including for a limited time a free two-day workshop worth an estimated $10,000
A Comprehensive, Flexible Approach
For an enterprise to be as agile and efficient as possible, Sun understands that virtualization must be available everywhere—at the server level, the network level, the desktop, and in storage solutions. Unlike competitors that take a one-size-fits-all approach, for years Sun has been providing a range of technology choices that span the datacenter to address customers' unique needs.
Sun's approach to virtualization provides both bottom-line and environmental benefits. Energy-efficient systems from Sun that provide high compute density in small footprints enable customers to reduce the amount of space required, resulting in real estate, power, and cooling savings. Sun technologies also allow customers to consolidate servers and applications onto fewer systems for improved resource utilization, simplified IT management, and lower costs.
Sun's virtualization and consolidation capabilities help customers reduce IT costs by as much as $2 million a year, achieve 99.99 percent availability, deliver up to 80 percent system utilization, and simplify infrastructure management. Key technologies include the following:
Solaris 10 Operating System: The most secure OS on the planet, the Solaris 10 Operating System is the ultimate virtualization platform, allowing customers to easily achieve higher utilization rates and consolidate servers without compromising service levels, privacy, or security.
Solaris Containers: Provided for free in the Solaris 10 Operating System, Solaris Containers let customers consolidate hundreds of applications onto a single efficient Sun Fire system for increased resource utilization and simpler management.
Highly Efficient Servers: Sun's extensive portfolio of UltraSPARC processor-based and x64-based servers help companies lower costs by reducing energy, space, and cooling requirements.
Virtualized Storage Solutions: Unlike other vendors, Sun offers a wide range of storage virtualization technologies that address SAN, NAS, file system, and backup layers to provide organizations of all sizes with appropriate solutions.
Management Tools: Sun provides a unique set of tools that let customers create an efficient management architecture with high levels of automation for managing systems more easily.
Virtualization Resources: Sun offers proven virtualization methodologies, return on investment (ROI), and total cost of ownership (TCO) approaches as well as lifecycle services to help customers architect, implement, and manage their virtual IT environment.
Sun's Latest Innovations
At the core of Sun's virtualization approach is making it easy for customers to optimize their Web tier and business tier infrastructures. New innovations include the following:
New x64-based Servers: Sun's and AMD's partnership delivers the fastest, most scalable, most energy-efficient, x64-based systems on the market. Sun was the first vendor to ship systems with the Next-Generation AMD Opteron processor with the recently announced Sun Fire X2100 M2 server and the Sun Fire X2200 M2 server. Today Sun is announcing availability of the Sun Fire X4100 M2 server and the Sun Fire X4200 M2 server, with the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server soon to follow. Also featuring the Next-Generation AMD Opteron processor, these servers are ideal platforms for virtualization, delivering outstanding performance, energy efficiencies, and scalability. NewEnergy Associates was able to consolidate their datacenter consisting of 18 x86 servers, 24 CPUs, 22 power supplies, 44 hard drives, and 26 GB of RAM—which consumed more than 14,000 watts of power—onto a single Sun Fire X4200 M2 server.
Logical Domains Preview: Today Sun is previewing a new server virtualization and partitioning technology called Logical Domains for servers with the CoolThreads technology in the Sun Fire T1000 and Sun Fire T2000 servers. By deeply integrating with both the industry-leading multithreading capability of the UltraSPARC T1 processor and the Solaris 10 OS, Logical Domains technology helps to enable customers to run multiple operating systems simultaneously. Up to 32 logical domains can be supported on a single CoolThreads server, and each logical domain can run as an independent OS instance. Due for release early next year, Logical Domains capability will complement Solaris Containers to help customers better utilize server capacity and increase efficiencies and ROI.
VMware ESX Server 3.0.1 Certification: VMware ESX Server 3.0.1 software is now certified to provide virtualization capabilities on the x64-based Sun Blade 8000 Modular System; certification for the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server is due soon. The VMware software lets customers create virtual machines to consolidate and easily manage several Solaris, Linux, and Windows servers on a single physical system instead of multiple systems, enabling customers to reduce complexity and achieve a server consolidation ratio of up to 20:1 or even higher. Right now, customers can take advantage of a VMware Starter Kit that gives subscribers a 10 percent discount on select Sun Fire x64-based servers.
Virtualization Made Simple
Sun is also offering a number of new and enhanced services, methodologies, and tools to make datacenter virtualization as easy as possible for customers:
Sun Solution Customer Workshop: This new workshop lets customers engage with Sun consultants in a two-day collaborative session designed to assess current customer business requirements, match these requirements to technology requirements, provide a high-level TCO analysis and long-term savings estimate, and determine actionable next steps. For a limited time, customers can receive this service worth an estimated $10,000 at no cost.
Lifecycle Services for Virtualization: The Sun Architecture Service and Sun Implementation Service help customers design and implement solutions to extract maximum value from their virtualization investments.
Online Virtualization Learning Center: This Sun learning center provides quick access to multimedia presentations, how-to guides, and demonstrations for learning more about virtualization's datacenter benefits.
Upgrade Allowance Programs: Sun programs let customers trade in existing equipment when building new virtualization solutions for significant discounts.
Virtualization Resources: Sun BluePrints, technical white papers, and valuable tools help customers learn even more about virtualization implementations and calculate potential savings.
By giving customers all the innovations needed to truly optimize their datacenters, Sun's comprehensive virtualization approach lets businesses reap cost savings today and more easily take advantage of opportunities tomorrow. Continued innovation will ensure that Sun remains on the cutting edge of virtualization advancements well into the future.
