Posts Tagged ‘open systems’

Walking the Open Walk

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Does your vendor offer a truly “open” solution? Or do they talk about “open” while they offer solutions that are actually closed on multiple fronts?

How do you know which solutions are truly open? It can be tough to discern because there are so many different kinds of interoperability to consider.

To explore the topic fully could probably fill a book. But let me offer a simple definition:

“Open”: A solution that works with the software, hardware, and processes you have now, and with those you might have in the future.

In other words, it addresses an existing problem without creating new ones, either now or down the road.

Seems like a straightforward definition. Let’s see how Xsigo stacks up:

Does it works with my software platform?

Xsigo now works with seven operating systems and hypervisors: VMware ESX 3.5 and 4.0, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008, Microsoft Hyper-V, Oracle VM, Solaris X86, Red Hat Linux (RHEL 4 & RHEL 5). And with our recent Citrix Ready certification announcement, it’s certified for Citrix XenServer as well. More interoperability is coming, such as an upcoming release that supports KVM. Our objective is to support what our customers need, now and down the road. (more…)

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The Ominous Return of Closed Architectures

Monday, December 7th, 2009

In the world of IT, “open” is practically synonymous with “good.” The terms “open source,” “open standards,” and “open systems” all imply efficiency and cost effectiveness.

But there is a trend towards closed system architectures that reverse this cycle. And it’s a trend you should keep a wary eye on.

For two examples, look at HP and Cisco. Both have server offerings that incorporate closed elements that are not now interoperable with other vendor’s products.

Start with Cisco’s UCS. You’ll need Cisco’s servers, their own CNA, and Cisco’s Fabric Interconnects as well as Cisco switches to achieve the promised flexibility.

Cisco has been clear that UCS is not a fully open architecture. Network World reported in this June, 2009 article, “Cisco will not license UCS technologies and has no plans at present to have the platform support multivendor servers. ‘Would Cisco license IOS?’ she asked rhetorically,” quoting Soni Jiandani, Cisco’s vice president of marketing for the server access virtualization group. (more…)

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Posted in Cost savings, Ethernet, virtual I/O | 1 Comment »