Solaris vs RedHat vs Windows

Its been a while since our last Solaris/OpenSolaris post. Now, like buses, suddenly 2 come along at once. Both are related to performance, the first (this one) is about benchmarking Solaris versus other mainstream Operating Systems. The second will follow in a few days, and is about maximising Solaris performance when virtualized on XenServer.

Most people see Solaris as extremely reliable, but one misconception that many hold about Sun's OS is that it is slow. Unfortunately, few take the trouble to assess their choice of OS with an open mind, so Solaris remains a "well kept secret", known only to those who work regularly with all the major server Operating Systems.

One of our consultants has been doing some benchmarks for a client, and came up with results we published here.


Solaris x86 was almost always the best performer above Linux (RedHat), and Microsoft, on HP hardware. From 2 cores to 24 cores with a couple of exceptions, it outperformed the others on Geekbench, a CPU and Memory intensive benchmark.

Not a lot of people know that.

360is Flourishes In 2009

Where has this year gone?

We have acquired many new clients in 2009, some in new sectors such as Biotech and Scientific Research (outside of our historical finance and telecoms verticals). We have seen increasing crossover between our security work and the data centre practice, as clients seek to protect their estates "post-consolidation", and vendors introduce virtual versions of traditional hardware appliances for Email, Web, and Network security.

Positive Numbers:

• New client intake up 25%
  
• Average engagement size up by 30%
  
• 25% of engagements were with existing clients
  
• No bad debts

Looking Forward
2010 is already shaping up to be a busy year.

Security Assessments & Investigations
Much of the large scale fraud and corruption which flourished in the global boom is now being brought to light under greater scrutiny and regulation. This has lead to an increase in inquiries for our post-incident clean-up services. The impact of the downturn on organised crime was the subject of a recent Wilton Park Conference hosted by the Home Office.

Virtualization
Early adopters of Virtualization are now looking to maximise their firepower through increased VM density and dedicated virtual appliances. Microsoft's (Hyper-V) entrance into the market, and continued focus of Citrix (XenServer), is putting this technology within reach of the small to medium enterprise, and small departmental projects in large companies. Both products are now completely free. Of course VMware is not going away, and is still present in about 80% of our clients estates.

Desktop Delivery
Microsoft has announced that from July 13, 2010, it will close down the support for Windows XP SP2. That's only 7 months away. Some security critical patches will be made available for XP up to 2014, but it is Microsoft's intention to upgrade all business users to Windows 7 that did not previously adopt Vista (so...everyone then) as soon as possible. At 360is we suggest clients give very serious consideration to whether or not they bother attempting a traditional roll out of Windows 7 to physical desktops, or whether they adopt a virtual desktop strategy for the new OS. Deploying Windows 7 as a virtual desktop has many benefits:


• No hardware refresh necessary
  
• No loss of end user productivity
  
• Easy swap-over, parallel running, rollback
  
• Reduced risk of application incompatibility

360is Business Model
Our roots in IT security always kept us vendor neutral. It's widely acknowledged that a multi-vendor, multi-technology strategy is best when securing large complex infrastructures. We are still convinced that vendor-neutral is the right way to be, not just for security projects but also for our data centre practice. Whether its VMware, Citrix, Microsoft, or a technology embedded in the next generation of CPUs. Our focus remains on professional services and expertise above software and hardware sales. Clients work with us because of what we know, not because of our position in the hierarchy or because they are forced by distribution and purchasing restrictions.

In 2010 we shall continue to deploy our capabilities in the sole interest of our clients to find the right solution to their challenges.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas & a Happy (and prosperous) New Year.

360is Represented at Microsoft Virtualization Round-table

360is were delighted to be able to take part in this months virtualization round-table, held at Incisive Media's central London offices. We spoke alongside representatives from Microsoft and Computerlinks. The panel debated the mainstream adoption of virtualization occurring now the software is mostly free, virtual desktop infrastructure, and the skills gap that exists in many IT/MIS departments around this new wave of software and hardware infrastructure.

The panel concluded that virtualization and the abstraction of "nuts and bolts" was already fundamentally changing the nature of conversations between Vendors, VARs, and clients, and would likely change hiring practices as companies sought business technologists over traditional IT skills.

The full text of the article is available online.
A copy of the print magazine is available on our site.

Autumn Virtualization Seminar, London & Cambridge (NOW FULL)

We are holding an invitation-only seminar on mission critical & production systems virtualization in November. Some of you will have already received the invite directing you to register.

Choose the date/location below to book your place and receive the calendar appointment and PDF agenda via Email.

19th November: Royal Mint, Royal Mint Court, London, EC3N 4HJ.
26th November: Trinity Centre, Milton Rd Cambridge, CB4 0FN.

Registered attendees will receive further information on the event and a full agenda.

Agenda
09:30 Arrival & Tea/Coffee

10:00 Welcome & Introductions - 360is Ltd

10:05 Running Citrix Virtualized In Production - Citrix Systems Inc

• Netscaler VPX, XenDesktop, XenApp.
  
• Best practice advice for reliable virtualization of Citrix software.
  
• Citrix end-to-end virtualization strategy for agile infrastructure.

11:00 Break

11:10 Virtualization Hardware - The Virtual Machine Company Ltd

• How customer requirements shaped virtualization hardware.
  
• How to achieve ultimate VM density and lowest TCO.
  
• A post-server approach to virtualization.

11:40 Case Study, “Virtualising A Billion Dollar Database” - 360is Ltd

• Maximising VM density without compromising performance & availability
  
• The virtualization experience, one year on.

12:00 Finish and Q&A.

12:15 Tour (Royal Mint only) followed by light lunch.

Cancellations & Additional Invitations
Places are limited, if you are subsequently unable to attend then please let us know so that we can move someone else up from the waiting list. If you did not get an invite and would like to attend, or wish to recommend a colleague, please contact rob.gilson@360is.com.

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Update 16-11-09: The seminar is now full and there is a waiting list for those unable to get in this time around. Please notify Rob Gilson (above) if you have registered but are now unable to attend.

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Update 20-11-09: Thanks to all who attended the Seminar. For those who were unable to make it, or who want copies of the presentations, please see the following links:

• 360is Intro & VMCO Hardware (7MB), Rob Gilson - 360is
  
• Citrix Update (11MB), Damian Saunders - Citrix Inc
  
• Virtualizaing Difficult Workloads (2MB), 360is
  
• VMCO Case Study (6MB), 360is
  

360is Awarded Platinum Partner Status by The Virtual Machine Company

360is are delighted to be the first UK reseller awarded Platinum status in recognition of their achievements as the partner with the highest unit shipments in 1H 2009.

360is continue to see strong growth in the hardware virtual appliance market, fueled by tightening operating expenditure, increased hosting/colo costs, and growing adoption of virtualization in business critical infrastructure. Since their launch in early 2008, Virtual Machine Company appliances have provided superior VMs-per-watt and VMs-per-square-foot to enterprises, hosting providers, and compute-intensive industries, when compared to general purpose x86 servers.

In a recent press release, Steve Barnett, Virtual Machine's Managing Director said "The 360is team consistently over-deliver, their mixture of expertise, execution and customer service means we're proud to have them as a platinum partner".

About The Virtual Machine Company
The Virtual Machine Company manufacture the worlds most powerful & energy efficient virtualization appliances, offering the densest VM ratios of any comparable platform. Led by Steve Barnett, the former Managing Director of Check Point Software Technologies. Their appliances are designed from the ground up to provide ultimate performance and return on investment in a virtualized environment, and each is backed up by enterprise quality support and services. Each device benefits from performance monitoring, capacity management & planning tools that ensure the optimum configuration of your virtual estate, and access to free In-Cloud services that take estate management to a new level.

Winner of June TomTom Give Away

Back in June we gave away a new TomTom GO 530 SatNav system. We can now announce the lucky winner as Ms K.Pavitt, who registered an opportunity with us for a virtualization project beginning in August. Congratulations!

360is wins Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Contract at Wren Academy

Wren Academy is a new 1000-place secondary school in the London Borough of Barnet. The Academy, specialising in Design and the Built Environment, offers state-of-the-art ICT facilities. Over £1 million will be spent on hardware and infrastructure supporting the aspiration that every student will have plentiful access to Information Technology.

360is is rolling out a complete campus-wide VDI solution for students and staff. The Citrix XenDesktop solution is based upon a mixture of thin and thick clients, and virtualized server-side. 360is drew upon prior experience of implementing complex VDI projects in the public and private sector to win the contract.

Virtual Iron Scrapped!

The acquisition of Virtual Iron was announced by Oracle on the 13th May this year. Oracle already had its own OracleVM product and can now add Sun's xVM software to the pot. Both of those products are (like Virtual Iron) based on open source Xen.

While this consolidation is good for customers in the long term, providing 3 strong competitors to the incumbent VMware, in the short term it was hard to see Oracle maintaining so many similar components to their stack. Sure enough something had to give and last week Oracle wrote to partners confirming that there would be no new sales of Virtual Iron, and that its features would eventually be subsumed into OracleVM. Virtual Iron customers should update themselves on the situation here.

Although we have already been contacted by an unhappy Virtual Iron customer looking to mitigate the risks in operating a platform whose development has been ceased, at least Oracle made their decision to melt-down Virtual Iron quickly, limiting any uncertainty.

If you are a Virtual Iron customer, and need to migrate to a supported, Xen-based platform with a future. We can make the transition as painless as possible. Given that most Virtual Iron customers have tight cost constraints, we are currently recommending Citrix XenServer as a replacement. There is even a completely free version that offers enterprise features like live migration, shared storage integration, and OS templates.

During this difficult period, we offer a free consultation with one of our engineers, to scope the size and shape of any possible migration from Virtual Iron to XenServer, or to consider other options. Simply get in touch.

Security Assessment & Penetration Testing Case Study

360is has been operating since 2002, our consultants have been advising UK companies since the early 90's. Over the years we've been asked many times for case studies on Security Assessments, Penetration Tests, and Post Incident Investigations. Up to now we have always resisted, for reasons of customer confidentiality and because most of our clients are still referred to us by word of mouth.

We are pleased to announce the first of several Security Services case studies. While based upon a real engagement, some details have been changed to ensure confidentiality and each case may draw upon information from more than one project.

• Financial Services, External Security Assessment.

Can you see anything of your current situation reflected in these stories?
Are the benefits gained by our clients interesting to you?
Have you thought about the ways we can help you this year?

TomTom GO 530 To Give Away

If you register your Virtualization or Security Service, support or training requirement with us before the end of June 2009, and attend a meeting with one of our consultants, you will be entered into a prize draw for a TomTom GO 530 Sat Nav system.

To register your project and to arrange a meeting, email your contact details and an outline of your requirement to Rob Gilson. Details of the lucky winner of the TomTom will be announced on our site on the 30th of June.