SteelEye Joins XenSource Partner Program

Published: November 29, 2006

by Dan Burger

The XenSource partner network is enjoying a bit of a bandwagon effect as software vendors, server makers, system integrators, and service providers crowd each other hoping to catch a ride. The number of companies in the partner program is growing--the Xen Web site lists 45, but the doors are not flung open to anyone and everyone who wants on board. This is an invitation-only party.

XenSource has rapidly built a reputation for enterprise-strength infrastructure virtualization based on the open source Xen hypervisor. On November 6, the company announced the market's first commercially packaged Xen virtualization software designed with a management and monitoring console that supports both Microsoft Windows and Linux servers. The capability to host multiple virtual servers on a single physical machine--and then migrate those virtual servers whenever and wherever additional resources are needed--allows for a server consolidation step that most organizations are happy to take.

Data and application availability management software is viewed as playing an important role in virtualization movement. That's what brought SteelEye Technology, with its LifeKeeper Protection Suite for business continuity and disaster recovery for both Linux and Windows, to the table. SteelEye was consequently selected to join the program at the premier partner level.

The partnership benefits SteelEye by providing access to technical information and resources needed to enable its suite of high availability clustering, data replication, and disaster recovery solutions for the XenEnterprise platform. SteelEye's support for Xen-based environments is the obvious benefit for XenSource.

LifeKeeper users have the capability to cluster physical and virtual servers in any combination to build configurations that optimize application and data availability. The software monitors critical resources and automatically migrates data and applications--on an as-needed basis--among physical and virtual servers to provide availability. The capability to run in either shared storage or replicated data clusters while supporting both Linux and Windows platforms makes it a flexible and cost-effective HA clustering option.

Officials with both companies say the goals of the partnership are to develop, market, sell, and support a comprehensive set of virtualization solutions. Partnership benefits also include close working relationships, shared classroom training, plus formal technical evaluation and testing programs.