Thoughts on Virtual Infrastructure Management

Virtual Infrastructure Optimization Podcast

By Lisa Crewe

In case you’re one of those people who like to research new products by downloading podcasts and listening to them during your drive time…Doug Brown of DABCC.com recently interviewed John Gavin, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Akorri. Doug and John discussed the Akorri BalancePoint virtual infrastructure optimization solution. John walks through the BalancePoint solution, the benefits, how it complement the VMware solution, what it takes to install and deploy, how it competes against the other virtualization management solutions, plus much more. Download it here and let me know what you think.

October 14, 2009 | Filed Under Education, Virtual infrastructure management | Leave a Comment 

Tuning, Tweaking and Troubleshooting Your Virtual Infrastructure

By Lisa Crewe

Interop has typically been a networking focused show, but this year the organizers have a heavy emphasis on virtualization.  Virtualization track chairs, Barb Goldworm and Anne Skamarock with Focus Consulting, have a great line up of topics that address virtualization issues from new implementations to advanced complex environments.

One of the sessions we hope folks will attend is Tuning, Tweaking and Troubleshooting Your Virtual Infrastructure.  Here’s the abstract from the Interop web site. 

Virtualization is great, but the business application is king! Getting your virtual infrastructure to perform optimally is essential to meeting application service levels. This requires performance monitoring and management; capacity management and chargeback; and troubleshooting tools that successfully navigate the complexities of the entire virtual infrastructure including servers, storage and networking. This session introduces some of the ways IT can address application performance and capacity management across the virtual infrastructure.

It’s a topic that Akorri has a lot to say about and Akorri CTO Rich Corley will get a chance to provide his “take” on the subject. 

If you’re interested in attending, here’s a link for a 40% discount on conference passes and free expo passes:  http://www.interop.com/lasvegas/?priorityCode=CMXSNL13

May 8, 2009 | Filed Under Education, Virtual infrastructure management | Leave a Comment 

Manageability is Top Server Virtualization Concern

By Lisa Crewe

According to The Info Pro’s Wave 6 server study, manageability and performance under load are the top server virtualization concerns for IT pros at the Fortune 1000 and mid market enterprises they interviewed. 

Manageability and Performance Under Load are Top Virtualization Concerns

Manageability and Performance Under Load are Top Virtualization Concerns

 This isn’t surprising and really validates what Akorri has been saying for the last few years.   And that is, that you need a virtual infrastructure management tool focused on performance and resource utilization to manage both your virtual and physical infrastructure holistically. We all know VM sprawl is a real issue.  TheInfoPro is coming out with their Server Wave 7 report shortly and we have the pleasure of hosting an upcoming webinar featuring Bob Gill, TheInfoPro’s Server Research Director sharing key findings and advice to help you manage your virtualization deployments more effectively.  You can register here.  If  there are any issues you’d like addressed during the webcast, please contact me.

March 31, 2009 | Filed Under Education, Virtual infrastructure management | Leave a Comment 

Managing Server and Storage Virtualization

By Lisa Crewe

ICI and Akorri are hosting a live webcast next week.  Since many IT budgets have been impacted with the current economic downturn, the focus will be on how you can save money and time with a virtual infrastructure managment tool. You can register here.

February 9, 2009 | Filed Under Education, Virtual infrastructure management | Leave a Comment 

Teaching Entrepreneurship

By Rich Corley

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to participate in a class at Northeastern University’s School of Technological Entrepreneurship. This was a graduate level class reviewing a case study on hiring within the context of a startup. I was asked to attend, along with Len Perham, to give an industry perspective of this important function.

As an alum of Northeastern I am amazed at how different the university is from when I attended. Back in the early 80’s Northeastern was mainly a commuter school, with very little research capability. My freshman class was somewhere around 11,000 students with a large majority of those students living off campus. The main attraction for students back then was the Co-op program. Today’s freshman class is about 2,800 students with the majority living on campus. Although the Co-op program is still a big draw for many students the university has greatly expanded its research capabilities and offers some unique programs. The School of Technology Entrepreneurship is one of those programs.

The School was the brainchild of Dr. Paul Zavracky. The School provides both undergraduate and graduate level degrees and is the only program of its kind in the United States. The main focus of the program is to expose students to entrepreneurship and teach them the skills they’ll require as they consider starting their own company someday. Most of the students in the program seem to come from an engineering background. I’m not sure why that is, but the great thing is the program gives them exposure into other disciplines that they’ll need to succeed, like finance, marketing, sales, and operations. Most entrepreneurs that I know with engineering backgrounds, including myself, had to learn those disciplines via the School of Hard Knocks….not the preferred way!

Sitting in this class I was given a glimpse into the next generation of entrepreneurs and I was excited by what I saw. The students came from various cultural backgrounds; they were intelligent, driven, and passionate about what they were doing. I believe most, if at all, of these kids will one day take the startup plunge. After the class I told Paul how jealous I was…jealous because there was no such program when I attended NU.

April 1, 2007 | Filed Under Education | Leave a Comment