VMware, Veritas Flip The Switch

The debut of VMware's Virtual Center and Veritas' CommandCentral Service 3.5 signal the emergence of an industry and channel around utility computing.

The VMware Virtual Center management software, set to launch today, will automatically provision Windows, Linux and NetWare servers into a pool of hardware resources, including storage, memory and raw CPU power, in a data center.

Meanwhile, Veritas last week released CommandCentral Service 3.5, which will allow partners to automate and deliver backup, recovery and storage resources as a service much the way electricity is delivered to the home.

Bloom says Veritas' position in storage software gives it an edge.

"The foundation for utility computing and the thing that today operates most closely to a utility model is storage," said Gary Bloom, CEO of Veritas, Mountain View, Calif. "Typically centrally managed, typically centrally backed up for protection and recovery, and typically very automated."

Both companies' offerings represent the next frontier for channel partners pushing into utility computing.

Virtual software enabled server consolidation in the data center. The more recent offerings will enable resource provisioning and automation.

One VMware partner said customers are at different stages of building out their utility infrastructures. Mark Fresolone, director of business development at Melillo Consulting, Somerset, N.J., said some customers have begun consolidating servers while others are deploying provisioning and automation software to dispense CPU power, memory, I/O and storage resources to applications on demand.

VMware's virtual infrastructure bundle comprises the Virtual Center management platform, API set and new VMotion technology that allows companies to shift workloads from one physical server to another.

"Because it was designed for the channel, it's plug-and-play," said Michael Mullany, senior vice president of marketing at VMware, Palo Alto, Calif. "This is not a year-long deployment cycle. It can be installed by our partners in a day or two."

Solution providers are also dipping their toes into the data-center automation waters.

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM released Tivoli Provisioning Manager and Orchestration packages, enabling high-end IBM Business Partners to create policies for resource pooling. And Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Opsware last week announced a partnership with Egenera, Marlboro, Mass. The deal will allow Opsware partners and customers to combine Opsware's automated provisioning system with Egenera's BladeFrame technology.

"Utility computing is the biggest revenue opportunity in professional services over the next three years, but [the Opsware technology] can be pulled off by a two-person team," said Andrew Schroepfer, President of Tier1 Research, Minneapolis.

HEATHER CLANCY & MICHAEL VIZARD contributed to this story.