INDUSTRY

XenEnterprise 3.2 delivers additional Windows and Linux guest support, Windows SMP, iSCSI support, enhanced security, new resource management capabilities and improvements in manageability and serviceability: XenSource has announced general availability for the newest version of its flagship commercial server virtualization solution, XenEnterprise. The new release, XenEnterprise 3.2, enables deployment of additional Windows and Linux versions, and enhances the power and flexibility of Windows guests via SMP support. XenEnterprise 3.2 also delivers greater security and performance, enhanced resource management capabilities, iSCSI SAN support, and improvements in manageability and serviceability. The new release was also featured in a recent performance benchmark report that shows XenEnterprise matches or outperforms VMware’s ESX on most of the benchmarks previously selected for comparison by VMware. A free 30-day product trial can be downloaded at its Web site and full results of the performance benchmark can be viewed at its Web site. “Our beta test of XenEnterprise 3.2 demonstrated the benefits of virtualizing our datacenter,” stated Chris Rogers, president of ServerCave, Inc. ServerCave, a hosting provider and datacenter consulting firm located in Herndon Virginia currently includes XenEnterprise 3.2 as part of its production environment. According to Rogers, the decision to incorporate XenEnterprise 3.2 as part its customer solution stems from the ease of deployment and the attractive price point. “The use of XenEnterprise allows ServerCave to take advantage of both the efficiency and economy the software provides. We are able to maximize the usage of the server resources, and we can increase our client base without having to purchase additional hardware.” Since introducing its Windows product in December 2006, XenSource has added more than 200 customers. Like its predecessors, XenEnterprise 3.2 offers high performance, ease of use, and broad hardware device support. New features include: * Multi-processor support (SMP) for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP guests – delivering scalable virtualization of Exchange, SQL Server, and other multi-threaded and compute-intensive applications. * Windows 2000 guests – enabling consolidation of the vast majority of deployed Windows server workloads. * Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 guests – supporting unmodified installation with the full performance benefits of paravirtualization. * Improved Windows guest support – providing accelerated network performance, ability to suspend/resume virtual machines, up to 8GB RAM per Windows guest, and signed drivers with WHQL certification. * iSCSI SAN support – delivering affordable networked storage support. * VLAN trunk support for virtual bridges – providing network traffic isolation. * CPU, disk and network resource control – enabling IT organizations to deliver more server resources to the highest-priority workloads. Many of these enhancements can also be found in the new releases of XenServer and the freely available XenExpress. For more information about the capabilities of each product, visit www.xensource.com/products. XenEnterprise 3.2 lets IT staff easily manage the allocation of system resources to virtual machines, making virtualization easier than ever before. The new release includes drivers to support more servers and add-in cards out of the box - making XenEnterprise 3.2 the virtualization platform with the broadest possible hardware support. Additionally, XenEnterprise 3.2 incorporates multiple improvements in manageability and serviceability, offering built-in tools that let users upload all data needed for issue reporting with a single command, simplifying technical support. “We are a Microsoft Windows shop that has found a great deal of benefit from the performance capabilities of XenEnterprise 3.2,” said Gabriel C. Stan, technical architect, PanAmerican Capital Partners, LLC. “XenEnterprise was easy to deploy in our test environment, and the multi-processor support and enhanced Windows guest capabilities have been particularly helpful.” “XenSource offers a proven platform for Windows and Linux virtualization,” said John Bara, VP of marketing, XenSource. “Customers are embracing XenSource solutions because they are open and easy to use, perform extremely well, and have the market’s broadest hardware device support. Our new release offers enhanced features that provide broader guest OS choices and more powerful virtualization management.” Availability and Pricing XenEnterprise 3.2 is available now. Pricing for XenEnterprise starts at $488 for an annual subscription license per dual socket server, and $750 perpetual license per dual socket server. XenEnterprise can be purchased from an authorized XenSource reseller. For more information, visit: its Web site or contact info@xensource.com.