Microsoft Gets 'Feature Complete' Hyper-V Out the Door
by Alex Woodie

Microsoft last week issued a 'feature-complete' version of its Hyper-V virtualization software last week, beginning the final countdown to availability of this important product by late summer. The first Release Candidate (RC) of Hyper-V brings several new features, including stability improvements and language support, Microsoft says. But the most important thing for Microsoft is to get Hyper-V into customers' hands as soon as possible, and get them thinking about adopting the product as their virtualization standard before they adopt VMware's ESX Server. READ MORE >

Xangati Launches End-User Network Troubleshooter
by Alex Woodie

Xangati this week launched an innovative network troubleshooting product designed to give frontline helpdesk personnel a clearer view of end-user network activities. Called Virtual Task Manager, the software gives users of its Rapid Problem Identification (RPI) helpdesk appliance a direct view of end-user desktop activities and possible causes of network problems, thereby satisfying end-user issues while allowing organizations to solve problems quicker and less expensively. READ MORE >

Marathon Launches Fault Tolerance for Xen on Windows
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

A year ago, Marathon Technologies, a maker of systems software that makes physical Windows platforms fault tolerant, said that it was working on a new line of products under the umbrella name v-Available to bring fault tolerance to virtual machines running Windows and, eventually, Linux. This week, Marathon is rolling out its first v-Available product, everRun VM. READ MORE >

Dell Inks OEM Deal with Egenera for Server Management Software
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Seeking to get any advantage it can over server and storage rivals IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and a somewhat resurgent Sun Microsystems, Dell yesterday announced that it would be certifying the PAN Manager systems and virtualization management software created by Egenera on Dell's PowerEdge server line. READ MORE >