In the current tussle for hardware virtualization credibility it is pretty easy to overlook some of the other competitors. Most organisations looking at virtualization projects are probably only looking at the three major players for Intel and AMD based servers. These players are:
- VMware – VMWare ESX/Infrastructure software has provided hardware virtualization for several years.
- Citrix – care of their acquisition of XenSource
- Microsoft – the Hyper V offering is slowing developing into a strong contender. The fact that a base version is delivered with Windows Server 2008 RC2 helps as well.
The market is not completely closed to other players. In fact, Virtual Iron have managed to record strong growth in a time when everyone else was seeing margins shrink. Virtual Iron saw an increase in their Q4 profits, up almost 65%. Virtual Iron puts their success down to a more reasonable pricing structure in comparison to VMWare.
The Virtual Iron solution uses a native virtualization methodology, leveraging the hardware-assist capabilities of Intel and AMD processors.
Virtual Iron includes these features:
- LiveProvision
- LiveUpgrade
- Good range of storage support including Sata, SCSI, SAS, SAN
- Uses the Microsoft VHD format
- Support Microsoft Active Directory and Open LDAP
Virtual Iron certainly does seem to offer a competitive product with a rich feature set. I first heard about them several years ago when I was looking for a virtualization platform for a Linux machine I had.
Have you used Virtual Iron? What are your thoughts about it?
Anyone who can deliver a good product for less money wins in my book.
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