Putting a burr under HP's Opsware saddle, BMC Software is buying BladeLogic, the server automation company, for a pricey $800 million less BladeLogic's cash on hand. It plans to tender for BladeLogic's stock starting next week probably and pay $28 a share, roughly a 19% premium. BladeLogic indicated that BMC won its hand over rival suitors who appeared at its doorstep after BMC proposed but did not name names. Rumors had named both BMC and VMware. VMware also lost Opsware.

Hewlett-Packard dropped out of the eight-socket x86 business a couple of years ago because it couldn't do a Xeon box without doing its own chipset and it had stopped making its own chipsets. It threw itself into two- and four-socket multi-cores instead, which didn't have application scalability problems. And it cleaned up on blades and four-socket machines. It's supposed to own 46% of the four-socket market and 48% of blades.

Dell, whose revenue base has always been the US, is now thinking it may become Asia, at least its growth engine will be Asia. Its Chinese consumer sales last year were up 54%, three times the industry average. To cultivate this new audience and feed the retail stores it's lined up it plans to develop new PC models that meet requirements it sees in China and India.

HP announced technologies that integrate virtualization capabilities into the HP ProLiant server platform, allowing customers to virtualize their server environments. Called HP ProLiant iVirtualization, the technologies allow businesses of all sizes to lower costs, improve productivity and better allocate resources across their server infrastructures. HP has joined virtualization vendors - VMware, Citrix and Microsoft - to develop these technologies, which integrate virtualization with a broad range of HP ProLiant and BladeSystem platforms.

Emulex Corporation announced that its LightPulse family of 8Gb/s host bus adapters (HBAs) are now supported in Oracle VM server virtualization software. With the high correlation between server virtualization and storage area networks (SANs), Emulex 8Gb/s Fibre Channel HBAs deliver the I/O bandwidth necessary to accommodate the storage networking traffic brought on by enterprises deploying virtualized servers based on Oracle VM.

F5 Networksannounced that it has joined the VMware Technology Alliance Partner program as a Select Partner. Through this alliance, F5 gains the use of VMware testing software, marketing tools, and technical support for technology integration between the two companies.

VaST and Tensilica announced that models of Tensilica processors are now available from VaST Systems for the VaST CoMET System Engineering Environment. Customers of both Tensilica's fully configurable Xtensa processor products and off-the-shelf Diamond Standard Series will be able to import the cycle accurate instruction set simulator provided by Tensilica into the VaST platform for early architectural exploration and software development and debugging. Chip designers can test their Tensilica processor-based designs early in the design cycle with real software using VaST virtual system prototypes, allowing designers to test design trade-offs while changes can still be cost-effectively made.

Officebroker.com has implemented Parallels Virtuozzo Containers operating system (OS) virtualization software to provide greater flexibility in the data center and enable simple, quick disaster recovery. The solution is currently being used to virtualize the SQL, Exchange, file and main controller servers that underpin the core business.

OpTier announced that its CoreFirst software is extending transaction visibility to virtual environments to help IT meet changing business needs. CoreFirst provides organizations with the insight and stability required to manage mission-critical applications running in production within virtualized environments.

In the run-up to its Developer Forum next month, which is way over in Shanghai, Intel dropped a few factoids about Nehalem, Dunnington and Larrabee on the press this week. This being an even number year, Intel is going to move to a new microarchitecture represented by the Nehalem, which uses a HyperTransport-like QuickPath point-to-point interconnect that gets Intel out of the front-side bus business and an integrated memory controller, another AMD borrowing, and Nehalem's single biggest enhancement, by Intel's lights, that will fetch data from the cores faster.

The Inquirer claims that AMD has quietly started cutting 5% of workforce across-the-board, tying the reported downsizing to speculation that the company will miss this quarter badly and characterizing the layoffs as a preemptive attempt to get costs under control. So we called AMD and AMD said it isn't quietly cutting 5% of its workforce and hasn't handed pink slips like the Inquirer said it had.

Microsoft's Hyper-V, its delayed, VMware-scratching hypervisor-based virtualization software, is now feature-complete and broadly available as a first release candidate. A beta of the stuff was included in Windows Server 2008 when it launched late last month and Microsoft says the build it put out Wednesday is 'updated, near-final code.' The final version, which will be part of the server operating system, is supposed to be out by August in keeping with Microsoft's promise of delivering it 180 days after Windows Server 2008 RTM'd.

VMware announced new security technology called VMware VMsafe that protects applications running in virtual machines in ways previously not possible in physical environments. The VMsafe APIs allow vendors to develop advanced security products that combat the latest generation of malware. VMsafe technology integrates into the VMware hypervisor and provides the transparency to prevent threats and attacks such as viruses, trojans and keyloggers from ever reaching a virtual machine. Twenty security vendors have embraced VMsafe technology and are building products that will further enhance the security of virtual machines, making the virtual environment unmatched in the level of security and protection it provides compared to physical systems.

Stoneware announced the integration of Google Apps in their upcoming 5.3 release of webOS. Stoneware's direct integration of Google Apps will deliver on their Virtual Web Desktop vision that presents Windows, web, and hosted applications in a single, ubiquitous web desktop interface. Organizations will have the ability to provide their remote and mobile users with seamless access to their Google applications alongside their existing corporate Windows and web applications.

Tek-Tools announced the availability of Profiler for VMware, a new module in The Profiler Suite, to optimize capacity utilization, performance, and availability of virtual IT infrastructures. Profiler for VMware is an agentless software solution that provides end-to-end monitoring of VMware ESX hosts, virtual machines, and storage, and delivers actionable insight through pre-packaged and customized reports. With this addition to the Profiler Suite, end users can monitor all four IT infrastructure components - servers, storage, backup and apps - from one console including virtual servers.

Transitive announced that its QuickTransit for Sola ris/SPARC-to-Linux/x86-64 Virtual Appliance has been certified by VMware's Virtual Appliance Lab, and will be listed in VMware's popular Virtual Appliance Marketplace. The certification also allows Transitive to use the Certified Virtual Appliance Logo from VMware.

Transitive announced the availability of QuickTransit for the Solaris operating system (OS) on SPARC to Solaris on x86/64 systems. In addition, this latest product in the QuickTransit enterprise product line has achieved the Solaris Ready Logo certification from Sun. To complement this release, Transitive and Sun are investigating the development of future QuickTransit versions capable of running native x86 applications on SPARC-based platforms without modification to source code or binaries.

Embotics announced its membership in the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program. Stewarded by the Emerging Business Team (EBT) at Microsoft, the program is designed to connect high-potential startups committed to the Microsoft platform to an extensive support network. This program provides access to Microsoft people and programs, guidance on future directions and support to accelerate their success.

Attune Systems announced the availability of Maestro File Manager 2.6. The new product release allows customers to leverage the integration of Attune's Maestro File Manager and Data Domain's line of deduplication storage systems for a comprehensive tiered storage solution that decreases storage costs.

InMage Systems announced its support for Oracle VM, Oracle's server virtualization software. The InMage solution, DR-Scout, is a turnkey DR/business continuity software product that enables customers to protect their data in the event of a natural disaster or everyday application or server failure. It delivers continuous data protection at both the local data center and remote disaster recovery levels. With InMage's announced support for Oracle VM, enterprise customers are assured that their business critical data and applications running in an Oracle VM environment can be continuously protected.

Entisys Solutions announced the appointment of Glen Holmes as Vice President, Southwest Region. In this role, he will be responsible for overseeing Agile360, the Southern California Division of Entisys Solutions.

VMware announced a multi-year initiative aimed at expanding its India-based research and development (R&D) operations. VMware already has a strong presence across India with offices in Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Delhi, and Mumbai. The initiative was announced by VMware president and CEO Diane Greene at a news conference in Bangalore.

DataCore Software, has become the storage virtualization vendor of choice for newly signed partner TelosIT. The staff at TelosIT is convinced that the right way for customers to go is to go virtual because for them the key elements of virtualization are now available -- virtual servers, virtual desktops and virtual storage. TelosIT delivers virtualization solutions from Virtual Iron, from DataCore Software and from Provision Networks (now Quest).

Pillar Data Systems announced the availability of application profiles for use in virtual server environments, including VMware and Oracle VM. This news builds on a series of application profiles Pillar has made available with the delivery of its Application-Aware Storage system. Pillar Axiom's Application-Aware Quality of Service (QoS) technology eliminates the need for companies to purchase double the amount of storage required in order to alleviate the utilization and performance degradation associated with virtualized server projects.

Sonasoft announced the availability of its new version of SonaSafe solution which provides features for protecting Microsoft Exchange and SQL servers in a virtual environment. SonaSafe supports several scenarios to protect virtual servers with minimal footprint on these servers.

Adding the BladeEngine, a unified Ethernet and iSCSI network controller to its PRIMERGY Blade Servers, Fujitsu Siemens Computers introduced advanced support for fully-virtualized datacenter environments. PRIMERGY BX600 series Server Blades, designed for the Dynamic Data Center, are systems offering the ServerEngines dual-capability 10 Gbit Ethernet and iSCSI SAN controller qualified for full virtualization operations - such as allocating networking and storage bandwidth to individual virtual machines in VMware and Xen environments.

Akorri announced that Gartner has named Akorri in its 'Cool Vendors in Server Virtualization Management' report. The March 17, 2008 report was written by Cameron Haight, Ronni J. Colville and Milind Govekar. 'IT organizations adopting the use of virtual-server technology are often reaping the benefits of hardware cost, data center facilities and energy reductions, but at the same time see that the 'no free lunch' theorem is in full effect as they grapple with the increasing complexity and new challenges that arise with the adoption of this architecture,' states the report.

Marathon Technologies announced everRun VM, the fault-tolerant, high availability software for server virtualization. Based on the same everRun automated availability software employed by over 1,800 organizations, everRun VM prevents outages and data loss in Citrix XenServer virtual infrastructures.

InMage Systems announced its support for Oracle VM, Oracle's server virtualization software. The InMage solution, DR-Scout, is a turnkey DR/business continuity software product that enables customers to protect their data in the event of a natural disaster or everyday application or server failure. It delivers continuous data protection at both the local data center and remote disaster recovery levels. With InMage's announced support for Oracle VM, enterprise customers are assured that their business critical data and applications running in an Oracle VM environment can be continuously protected.

This session will provide attendees with an overview of the iPhone SDK, including discussion of the App Store, Apple's planned distribution channel for SDK applications. Keep in mind that the contents of the SDK and experiences while using it are covered under NDA, so be prepared for me to talk in generics and leave out specific details that might be covered by the NDA. I am planning on providing a quick introduction to Objective-C for those attendees who may have never seen it and might be worried that it will be difficult to code in (it isn't!).

JumpBox announced that it is launching JumpBox Open - giving users subscription access to their collection of time saving virtual appliances for Open Source applications. 'In a nutshell, JumpBox Open brings simplicity, selection and time savings to the world of Open Source software,' said Kimbro Staken, JumpBox Co-founder and CEO. 'Because JumpBoxes make it so simple to deploy applications, JumpBox Open provides easy solutions to most any business application requirements.'

QLogic announced that it is the first HBA vendor to ship production ready N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) solution for a shipping Linux distribution. Enterprise Linux customers can now get NPIV-capable Fibre Channel HBAs for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 1 (SP1), the latest Linux platform from Novell that features enhancements in virtualization, high performance computing, security, interoperability and system management. QLogic series HBAs provide hardware-assist features that enable dynamic provisioning and flexible usage of HBA resources, helping IT managers to extend SAN best practices into virtualized data centers.

With all programming about to become parallel programming, the industry's famous Wintel twins, Microsoft and Intel, said this afternoon that they will be putting $20 million into university research over the next five years. Their objective is to make parallel programming easier and mainstream, the stuff of laptops, desktops and mobile devices, ubiquitous from the laptop to the petaflop. They are funneling the money into two new Universal Parallel Computing Research Centers (UPCRCs) - one at Berkeley, the other at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) - that will seek breakthroughs in parallel programming applications, architecture and operating systems software.

FastScale announced that it has joined the HP BladeSystem Solution Builder Program. By utilizing the technologies of FastScale and the capabilities of HP Virtual Connect, which permits real-time changes between server environments and local area network (LAN) and storage area network (SAN) domains across the data center, customers can deploy enterprise-class applications on their BladeSystem servers in seconds, whether servers are physical or virtual.

Reaching the next major milestone in virtualization development, Microsoft made available a feature-complete release candidate of Microsoft Hyper-V, the hypervisor-based virtualization software available with various versions of Windows Server 2008. A beta of Hyper-V was included with Windows Server 2008 when it launched last month, and this release candidate provides updated, near-final code.

Citrix announced a strategic development and distribution agreement with HP that will integrate an enhanced version of Citrix XenServer into 64-bit HP ProLiant servers. Under the terms of the agreement, Citrix and HP have jointly developed an integrated server virtualization solution called Citrix XenServer HP Select Edition, which will be marketed to HP and Citrix customers. The new product features an easy-to-use graphical management console and is seamlessly integrated with the same HP Insight Control management software that customers already use to physically administer their HP ProLiant servers. With this solution, new and existing HP and Citrix customers will be able to deploy and manage a virtualized environment faster and easier than ever before.

Citrix and Lenovo announced an OEM agreement for Lenovo to certify, support and sell Citrix XenServer products with their hardware. By offering Citrix XenServer with Lenovo server platforms and Lenovo server management software, Lenovo will streamline virtualization and virtual management for their customers in China.

HP announced technologies that integrate virtualization capabilities into the HP ProLiant server platform, allowing customers to virtualize their server environments. Called HP ProLiant iVirtualization, these technologies allow businesses of all sizes to lower costs, improve productivity and better allocate resources across their server infrastructures. HP has joined with virtualization vendors - VMware, Citrix and Microsoft - to develop these technologies, which integrate virtualization with a broad range of HP ProLiant and BladeSystem platforms.

DataCore announced that Trading Places has become a SANmelody customer through DataCore partner TelosIT. One key consideration in Trading Places' decision to go with DataCore was the speed of SANmelody. The volume of transactions and queries make fast read/write storage performance a fundamental requirement because the system needs to support the company's mission-critical SQL databases and timeshare-ware programs running over Provision Networks (now Quest). This records-management system provides access to Trading Places' staffers, including front desk personnel as well as cleaning and maintenance staff. The system enables them to update records and check-in guests and in general assures that the properties run efficiently.

Entrigue Systems announced the availability of Script Start Professional v2.0. The new version adds enterprise level features to the popular user profile management solution. Enhancements include a new architecture with the ScriptConsole running locally, providing faster, easier to manage access as compared to the web hosted model that Entrigue had used in previous versions. Additional new enterprise features include backup and restore of configurations, hardware and software inventory with detailed reporting, the ability to upgrade to future versions, software assurance for one year, access to tier one and two support, and priority updates.