Simon Bramfitt

Application delivery and the evolution of endpoints

Anyone who hasn't been hiding under a rock for the last few weeks won't have been able to avoid the brouhaha concerning the highly anticipated launch of Apple's tablet. Not quite as exciting to some, but certainly more real was Steve Ballmer's keynote at CES last week, where he showed off Windows based tablets from HP, Archos and Pegatron. At the same time there has been an explosion of announcements on Android tablets with manufacturers such as Archos (again), Compal, Dell, HP (again), and Motorola, offering tablets ranging in size from 5 to 10 inches. While in the UK, T-Mobile has announced its own monster 15 inch Vega tablet that will also run Android. If this wasn't enough Intel is pushing Moblin their own Linux-based OS at Netbook manufacturers and have just launched the beta of AppUp Center Intel's take on the single platform application storefront. And let's not forget Walt Mossberg’s interview with Google's VP of Engineering Andy Rubin strongly hinting that Google has RIM in its sights by announcing plans for an enterprise version of the Nexus One smartphone complete with physical keyboard and longer battery life.

A couple of years ago enterprise IT might have seen all this as an interesting diversion and little more. But now with the iPhone, and more importantly the iTunes App Store, expectations on application delivery to the endpoint have changed. Enterprise users now expect to be able to access both personal and business apps where ever they are.  So while many of these new devices are clearly aimed at the consumer market, it would be shortsighted not to expect some of them to see service as enterprise application delivery endpoints in the near future. 

Predictions for 2010 – VMware

VMware may have been one of the early innovators in desktop virtualization, but it has to be acknowledged that in focusing to control the server market VMware failed to fully capitalize on this early lead. Even now, with enterprise migration to Windows 7 being offered as the primary driver towards of desktop virtualization, VMware still managed to release View 4 with incomplete support* for Windows 7.  With pressure from industry to deliver enterprise class desktop virtualization solutions and stiff competition from an increasing number of competitors, this was no way to launch the product that will decide VMware’s fate on the desktop. I don’t think that expecting VMware to fix the outstanding issues with Windows 7 support quite qualifies as a prediction, but I do think that View 4 needs more work than providing full support for Windows 7 before it can come good on its promise.

Where then can we expect to see VMware’s desktop virtualization team focus its efforts in 2010?

Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:

"                                    And you, good yeoman,

Whose limbs were made in England, show us here

The mettle of your pasture; let us swear 

That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not; 

For there is none of you so mean and base, 

That hath not noble lustre in your eyes. 

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, 

Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: 

Follow your spirit, and upon this charge 

Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'"

Shakespeare. Henry V: Act 3 Scene 1

Today desktop virtulization comes of age with the release of VMware View 4. Now at last we will see side by side both Citrix and VMware's visions for the future of desktop virtualization; and while not quite as historic an event as the battle of Agincourt, it is clear that the lines have been drawn and that the future of these two companies will be shaped based on how they fare in the battle to own the virtual desktop.
Citrix and VMware have very different perspectives on how to deliver against corporate IT needs (and to a significant degree on what those needs comprise of), not to mention each having a complex network of alliances that would make many aspects of European history appear transparent. So the coming year will be an interesting mix of each companies own capabilities as well as just how close the alliances they have forged have become. I'm looking forwards to an interesting year.

Now that we are starting to see the battle lines being draw, some small part of me is secretly hoping that Citrix's own Harry is rousing his troops with a cry of 

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our Citrite dead."

Wyse to announce new marketing partnership with Citrix at VMworld

Well not really, but Wyse will be announcing their new VMware View Client for the iPhone at VMworld.  The only problem with this is that they want to charge $30 for it. In the iPhone economy where we expect good apps to be free and really good ones to cost $1.99, charging $30 for an app that Citrix gives away free of charge is unfathomable^*. It must be tough for VMware when a VMworld platinum partner prices their product in such a way to drive customers straight into Citrix's arms.

The really sad thing is that (by the look of the screen shots) it looks like it might be a very good product, but considering the level of competition between VMware and Citrix you would have thought that someone at VMware would have suggested to Wyse that they come down of the price a just little bit.

If you are heading to VMworld you might like to drop by Moscone South, East Mezzanine, Rooms 224/226 Wednesday, September 2nd, 12:00 PM and ask Wyse what they were thinking.

* Yes I know that the Citrix Receiver for iPhone is for XenApp and not XenDesktop, but work with me here. We all know that Citrix will deliver a XenDesktop client when they think it necessary and we know exactly what they will charge for it when they do..

New Tolly Group performance tests show XenServer ahead by a length

Exhibiting only slightly less tension than the Oxford Cambridge boat race; the Citrix XenServer Blues triumph over VMware in the latest round of the XenServer/ESX battle over which platform has the most convincing XenApp performance testing figures.

Tolly Group have release data from a series of tests (sponsored by Citrix) that showed that XenServer 5 out performed ESX 3.5 by supporting 41% more concurrent users; so no surprises there. Well maybe one surprise; this time out VMware didn't cry foul and demand request that Tolly strike the results from the record 

"Testing focused on system scalability and user quality-of-experience. This test report was approved for publication by VMware. The VMware End User License Agreement (EULA) requires such approval".  

So maybe VMware are more sporting than Simon Crosby would have us believe, that or some of his barbs have struck home.

Setting that tomfoolery aside, don't you think it's about time we customers had some independant benchmarks of virtual server workloads that we could trust.

A pause for breath, if you're lucky

I was talking to Chris Fleck recently about the number of new announcements in the application delivery space and how to address the opportunities and challenges they represent.  Over the last couple of months we have seen a staggering number of products, technologies, projects, and new initiatives from Citrix and VMware: XenApp in Amazon EC2 (and cloud phenomena in general) , XenServer 5, Project Independence, Citrix Essentials, the iPhone Receiver, XenApp 5 Feature Pack 1, XenDesktop 3, linked clones in View 3, VCP, vShield Zones, vCenter Server Heartbeat, as well as a bunch of other things that I‘ve either forgotten about, are still under NDA, or were figments of an overactive imagination.  

All wonderful stuff, all impacting application delivery to some degree, and (almost) all frighteningly complex when scaled up to enterprise deployments; it’s going to take some careful thought to assess how best to take advantage of these technologies, how to integrate them with the existing IT infrastructure and most importantly determine whether or not the ROI justifies adoption. 

After talking it through with Chris, I came to the conclusion that within the current recession where businesses worldwide are dropping, delaying or scaling back project after project, there was an opportunity to pause for breath and think through how to really take advantage of these new technologies to improve the services that IT can offer to business; to get ahead of the game for once. 

Well, it didn’t quite work out that way for me; my job has been outsourced to IBM, and I don’t know yet if IBM will take the same long-term view that I do.

Citrix blur the lines between app and workload delivery - I

Citrix have always had a to face the challenge presented by having to stay a couple of steps ahead of Microsoft's Terminal Services feature set and more recently by competitors looking to steal parts of Citrix's core customer base.  So after making it clear to VMware yesterday that they have a fight on their hands for the data center and cloud virtualization markets, Citrix went on to make it clear that they haven't forgotten their base either by announcing Feature Pack for XenApp 5 and blurring the lines between application delivery and workload delivery.

Sridhar Mullapudi and Vinny Sosa blogged about the change yesterday, and provided the following chart highlighting the changes 

	Advanced	Enterprise	Platinum
Citrix XenServer	X	X	X
Application streaming	X	X	X
EasyCall voice services	X	X	X
Workflow Studio orchestration	X	X	X
Load testing services		X	X
Profile management		X	X
Provisioning services			X
Single sign-on			X

It should be obvious to everyone by now that XenServer is not really a part of XenApp, so it's arguable that it should not be included here.  However, there is one key difference that Citrix have made that might not be immediately visible.  By making XenServer a part of XenApp, it means that XenServer is now supported by Citrix as part of any existing XenApp support contract, so even the smallest of XenApp users can now implement XenServer as a fully supported production platform for no extra cost. This is huge in itself, and is another direct attack on VMware who have been making a play for hosting XenApp on ESX for some time. OK, it should be noted that officially this support status only applies to using XenServer to host a XenApp workload, but if ever a rule was there to be broken this one is. 

Moving App Streaming down to XenApp Advanced is a strong way to shore up sales of Advanced to make it attractive for customers to stay with Citrix rather than jump ship to cheaper products or forego their Subscription Advantage agreement at a time when IT budgets are under pressure. The same could be said for the other major additions, Workflow Studio, Load Testing Services and Provisioning Server. Citrix came under substantial criticism last year for a perceived lack of new features in XenApp 5.0, this update should go along way to win back customer loyalty. 

It leaves me wondering though, if Citrix are in a position to announce this many changes before VMworld Europe.  What will we see at Synergy in May?

More later.

Not yet time for an open standard for measuring XenApp performance on virtual server platforms

I previously commented on the negative response to a posting on VMware's community site reporting some surprising results from a performance test that showed ESX outperforming XenServer when running a XenApp test workload. Jeff Buell posted a follow-up on his blog seeking out opinions on "What characteristics would make for a credible, reliable, objective, and repeatable benchmark". 

I tried to engage Jeff on this front, indicating that I am very willing to work to define such a benchmark, but after a couple of exchanges I'm getting the impression that Jeff isn't quite as as willing as I first thought he was.

Still some good has clearly come of the exchange. Jeff has made it clear that  "The work published on our blog was our first cut at [a XenApp] workload and was never advertised as being complete. "  and that VMware  "are also planning scale-out tests and more complete documentation".  If nothing else it this is a significant step back from the black and white statement  "The results show that ESX runs common desktop applications on XenApp ... with significantly better performance than XenServer."  that was made in the inital blog post.

Regardless of anything else, I am certainly looking forwards to seeing the results of any scale-out test that they publish and the response to them that the broader community will provide.  

Citrix giving away XenServer? - II

Tech Republic have gone one better than Practical Technology and leaked Citrix's announcement slide deck. 

Setting the product and pricing announcements aside, the biggest news that can be gleaned from the deck is that the Citrix Microsoft bond has tightened another notch.  This plus last Monday's announcement of the MS/Redhat interoperability pact is another strong sign that Microsoft (and friends) are very serious about taking a lead in the virtualization business.

In other news, there were no new rumors that Citrix was about to be bought by Microsoft.

Citrix giving away XenServer? - I

This isn't really my area of expertise, but it's a very interesting development and enough for me to offer a few words.  

The Practical Technology blog is making claims (leaking the news may be more accurate) that Citrix will be making a couple of major announcements at VMworld Europs next week. First off they will be announcing a new XenServer Management Suite and along side that the word is that they are planning to stop charging for XenServer Enterprise.

Regardless of the 'We won't complete on price' line that VMware has taken in the past, I don't see how VMware can continue to charge for any release of their hypervisor products after this.  And that 's the bit that puzzles me. If Citrix are forcing VMware's hand in this way they are moving the battle away from the hypervisor and up into the management layer.  I've always had the opinion that VMware held the upper ground on the management front, which means Citrix must have a lot of confidence in their new management products to be able consider taking the fight to VMware in this way.

Nice of Citrix to leak this news just before VMworld so that VMware can quickly re-work their keynote in time for next week.  :)