Latest update for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization released

Red Hat, the global leader in open source solutions, made an announcement about next step in the integration of its enterprise server and desktop virtualization solutions with the availability of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2. Along with the features present in the previous versions of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, the recent update has new migration tools, scalability capabilities and features to enhance the security and performance of the solution.

“As enterprises look to move beyond initial server consolidation to a more pervasive datacenter-wide virtualization strategy, they are looking to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization to provide leading scalability and economics,” said the senior director for Virtualization Business at Red Hat, Navin Thadani. “Already experiencing traction with server and cloud deployments, the solution expands its reach today with the delivery of our desktop virtualization management capabilities to help more customers to break down the barriers to virtualization adoption.”

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2, having capabilities of hosting and managing virtual machines from Microsoft Windows and Linux, provides an infrastructure from where customers are able to manage their server and desktop virtualization deployments. The 2.2 update allows customers to deploy Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) configurations, also called Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), and brings centralized, scalable provisioning and management of desktops. It also offers a web-based connection broker that helps end users to gain access to their hosted virtual desktops. Some other features, like thin provisioning, templating, and desktop pooling are also present in the latest update. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktop provides support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 7.

The CTO of Devon IT, Stephane Verdy, said that, "Devon IT has built its thin client hardware and software offerings around VDI, as advancements in connection broker and hypervisor technologies have given companies and organizations the power to save money, increase security and streamline desktop management with hosted client computing.” He also added that, "We have worked with Red Hat to deliver its SPICE protocol to customers using our thin clients, and we are ecstatic that this industry leader will expand its Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization technologies at the user endpoint. We look forward to continuing collaboration with Red Hat to deliver the rich media, dual-DVI and video capabilities customers have come to expect with our thin client hardware and software products."

Director of Virtualization Solutions Product Management at Wyse Technology, Param Desai was of the opinion that, "The ability to migrate, secure and manage end users via a single solution are key benefits of virtual desktop infrastructure, and Wyse supports the advancement of this effort with solutions such as Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization." He continued saying that, "Wyse and its partners deliver industry-leading Desktop Virtualization and Cloud Client Computing solutions with advanced security, reliability and user experience features with low energy usage and total cost of ownership."

With this release, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization also has leading scalability, which supports guests having up to 16 virtual CPUs and 256 GB memory every virtual machine. The release also offers virtual machine conversion abilities with a V2V tool designed for automating the conversion of VMware or Xen virtual machines and use them within Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization.

"With today's announcement of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2, customers can utilize the Cisco Unified Computing System and the Virtual Interface Card to drive virtualization efficiency through Cisco's extended memory and I/O virtualization technology," said VP and CTO for Cisco's Server Access & Virtualization Business Unit, Ed Bugnion. "We look forward to continued collaboration with Red Hat to offer our customers more choices, allowing them to take advantage of virtualization in their datacenter infrastructures."

"This release of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization is a major milestone toward establishing KVM as a world-class open source hypervisor," exclaimed Bob Sutor, VP of Linux and Open Source at IBM. He further added that, "The ability to combine Red Hat Enterprise Linux and virtualization technologies with IBM Lotus software creates a compelling way to build enterprise collaboration environments. Lotus Notes, Sametime and Symphony deliver tremendous productivity on the desktop, Lotus Connections and Quickr enhance interaction among networks of people, and LotusLive adds collaboration through the cloud, all implemented using a scalable, open architecture."