Virtualisation is added to Novell SuSE servers

Novell is adding virtualisation technology from Virtual Iron Software to SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9. Virtual Iron's datacentre virtualisation and management platform will be pre-configured into the kernel that ships with the server.

Novell said the technology would enable users to improve overall data centre management, reducing operating costs and increasing IT operating flexibility and responsiveness. Virtual Iron provides datacentre virtualisation and policy-based management that is designed to improve the flexibility of applications such as J2EE application servers, databases and high-performance computing.

Mike Grandinetti, Virtual Iron's chief marketing officer, said, "Transitioning the datacentre to a more dynamic virtual model is essential to reducing the complexity and improving the responsiveness of today's IT organisation."

The Virtual Iron technology enables the IT administrator to group up to 16 existing processors into a single virtual server, with scalable performance that increases for each processor added.

The virtualisation technology can also be used to partition a single computer to create multiple virtual servers using a fraction of a processor for each. Users can partition hardware and combine or divide memory, storage and network resources via the management console, without touching physical hardware.