NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: GIBBS & BRADNER 11/16/04 Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED],
In this issue: * Backspin columnist Mark Gibbs is willing to bet that ��virtualization will change everything * Links related to Gibbs & Bradner * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Intel IT Productivity; Increasing ROI Learn how to effectively measure employee productivity, manage IT investments and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership in enterprise data management. Visit Intel's IT Productivity center. Click here to download white papers, books and IDC Research. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88355 _______________________________________________________________ IT SECURITY JOBS TO EXPLODE With an annual compound rate of nearly 14% from now until 2008, information security jobs are far outpacing IT jobs in general. For more results from this recent survey conducted by IDC of full-time security pros in 80 counties worldwide, click here: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88265 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Betting on virtualization By Mark Gibbs I am not a betting man (I paid attention in class when we covered probability) but I would bet that virtualization will change everything. I concluded last week's column with the prediction that virtualization would make the server business more cutthroat than it already is. My reasoning was that when hardware is isolated from the operating systems to the extent that it is effectively generic and any physical differences are transparent, server differentiation becomes impossible and branding irrelevant. My second thought about virtualization is potentially more disruptive: A virtualized infrastructure weakens Microsoft's hegemony. Note that I'm not taking Microsoft's foray into virtualization, Microsoft Virtual PC, seriously. When I talk about virtualization I'm talking about the likes of VMware. The biggest difference between Microsoft's product and VMware is the latter's support for non-Windows operating systems, notably the 57 varieties of Linux, as well as NetWare and exotica such as Oberon, Inferno and BeOS. Virtual PC, on the other hand, is really more of a migration tool for NT 4 shops. In the Microsoft world, the intimate relationship with the underlying hardware makes the operating system special - Windows is "welded" to the platform, and the complexity of the resulting system means you have to be committed to the installation. But virtualization changes everything. Now operating systems become as mobile and malleable as applications - in fact operating systems become, in practice, even more mobile than applications, and can be duplicated, relocated and reconfigured with amazing ease. So if Microsoft doesn't own the platform any more, it puts the company in a weaker position. For example, where you need extra service and don't want to spend more money on Windows, you can run an alternative operating system simply configured for one or two services. This really will rattle Microsoft's ongoing spin-doctoring about the total cost of ownership of Windows compared with Linux. If you take a Windows shop and try to migrate to Linux the cost will kill you, but that isn't reality. Reality is that you would use your existing investment and over a long period introduce Linux piecemeal. With virtualization, the migration process becomes far more manageable and therefore cost-effective. I think the whole cost campaign Microsoft has been running shows just how profound a challenge Linux is to the company. What it is admitting is that there is a real pretender to the throne. Microsoft is, in effect, validating the competition. This reminds me of many years ago when Novell did a "head to head" test against Banyan and Microsoft. The problem was that in most areas there was no clear winner and when you added it all up there was no overall winner. Not only was the effort a waste of time and effort, but Novell publicly admitted there was competition. Bad idea. So with virtualization Microsoft loses an important advantage. What can it fight back with? Well, how about licensing? Could Microsoft start linking licenses to physical processors, for example, allowing only one server license to each real processor? I'm quite sure that it can create some kind of argument to make such a restriction appear to be a rational response to a technical issue - you know, like Microsoft's argument that Windows Media Player had to be embedded in the core operating system otherwise it would be the end of the world. Virtualization changes everything. Not immediately or even necessarily quickly, but over the next few years virtualization will redefine how we run enterprise infrastructure and give us a richer range of choices with which to create solutions. Even though I'm not a betting man, if someone wants to challenge me on this I might have to take the bet. This looks like a safe one. Wagers to <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Mark Gibbs Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist and he writes the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns in Network World. We'll spare you the rest of the bio but if you want to know more, go to <http://www.gibbs.com/mgbio>. Contact him at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Intel IT Productivity; Increasing ROI Learn how to effectively measure employee productivity, manage IT investments and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership in enterprise data management. Visit Intel's IT Productivity center. Click here to download white papers, books and IDC Research. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88354 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Gibbs archive: http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/gibbs.html Bradner archive: http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/bradner.html _______________________________________________________________ Messaging protection: Eliminating outbound message vulnerabilities for good Are companies concerned about the content of email leaving their organizations? What steps are they taking to eliminate confidential documents from falling into the wrong hands? Learn how message hygiene is helping companies clean house. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88438 _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE NEW! Website dedicated to Networking for Small Business now available The editors of NW Fusion and PC World have combined all their expert advice, authority, and know-how into a powerful new tool for small businesses, the new Networking for Small Business website. Get news, how-to's, product reviews, and expert advice specifically tailored to your small business needs. Find help with Security, Broadband, Networking, Hardware, Software, and Wireless & Mobile technology at: <http://www.networkingsmallbusiness.com/> _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. 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