A few week’s ago I wrote about virtualization in large enterprises – chronicling conversations I’ve had with Fortune 100 CEOs and CIOs. Following Jerry’s Mid-Market podcast, I thought I would chime in with my thoughts on virtualization in the Mid-Market; especially since the introduction of products like Hyper-V will increase mainstream adoption at the Mid-Market level significantly.

Mid-Market companies have completely different drivers for adopting virtualization than the larger companies. The key question for Mid-Market level CIOs is “can I consolidate everything?” Most large companies have the ability to segment out the applications they want to virtualize and allocate the appropriate staff to pull it off in a phased approach. Mid-Market companies lack that luxury. They are often times short staffed and have little resources to conduct this sort of deployment. And in many cases, if they can’t consolidate all of the apps, the return doesn’t pencil out.

Why haven’t more Mid-Market companies deployed server virtualization?

One of the first and foremost concerns on the mind of Mid-Market CIO’s I’ve talked to is that they want to be sure that they are going to be able to get and provide the same service as before. Keeping business critical applications like Exchange and SQL up and running, not only effects employees, but also customers and partners as well.

Another major concern which has prohibited Mid-Market companies from deploying is the idea that there are specialized skills required to maintain a virtual environment. This should not be a concern. While some virtualization platforms do require specialized IT skills, new platforms such as Citrix XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V can realistically be deployed without an army of IT folks or a lot of specialized virtualization skills.

If you’re a Mid-Market company facing a virtualization hurdle, leave me a comment here. We would gladly dive-in to see if we can help you get over it.

With Microsoft’s Hyper-V announcement a few weeks back, the buzz around virtualization continues to rise. In this Network World podcast, our CTO Jerry Melnick discusses what Microsoft’s announcement means for the virtualization industry. Jerry believes that Microsoft’s moves will bring virtualization within reach of many companies who have been hesitant about adopting it before now – giving Microsoft the opportunity to swim in uncharted waters where VMware hasn’t been able to go.

The podcast also highlights Jerry’s take on the thriving virtualization industry and how the growing virtualization ecosystem is creating solutions that “fill in the blanks” e.g. everRun VM allows customers of all sizes to “consolidate with confidence” with reliable availability for virtual servers.

Do you think availability is a critical factor for a successful virtualization deployment?

Can virtualization move beyond test and developmental in most companies and become a key component of the core enterprise IT infrastructure? Jerry Melnick discusses the necessity of high availability in a virtual environment and how it can be achieved with Mike Vizard of eWeek.

If you’re interested in using virtualization for essential applications like Exchange but haven’t yet because you’re worried about keeping them available, we encourage you to listen to this podcast and learn about the proliferation of different virtual machines, why there are different types available, and how Marathon’s HA solution can make virtualization of applications like Exchange and SharePoint a reality.

We were fortunate to attend the 2008 Citrix Synergy event last week, which the folks at Citrix did a great job hosting. For those that weren’t able to attend, make sure you check out the “underground community” they set up. You can see a video of Michael Bilancieri and Steve Keilen from Marathon, demonstrating everRun VM. Go to menu, browse on demand library, Synergy on-site video, and then scroll down towards the bottom and you’ll see Marathon Technologies everRun VM – Fault Tolerance for Citrix.

In addition, David Marshall recorded this brief podcast discussing how everRun enhances the functionality of Citrix XenServer.

As always, if you have any questions for us, feel free to leave a comment.

After much speculation and blogosphere rumors, we decided it was time to let the cat out of the bag and officially launch everRun VM! Of course, for an announcement this big, we thought unveiling the news LIVE right here on the blog was the best way to inform the press, analysts and general public about the new product we’ve been working so hard on. So, tell your friends you heard it here first!

Wait a minute? The release crossed the wire this morning? Gary, Michael, Steve and Jerry have already been talking to the press?

Well, then….

You Heard it Here… Eighth (or Ninth)!!!

We’ve included some links to the everRun VM coverage below. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of everRun VM beta testing and the feedback we receive from testers. In the meantime, enjoy the articles and leave us a comment if your interested in learning more about the product. As you can tell from all the quotes in these articles, we’re always happy to talk!

Marathon Releases Virtual HA, Fault Tolerance
Byte and Switch
http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=149019&WT.svl=news2_1

Marathon’s Virtualization Tool Simplifies Disaster Recovery
CIO
http://www.cio.com/article/print/202350

Get fault tolerant virtual servers
Computerworld
http://blogs.computerworld.com/get_fault_tolerant_virtual_servers

Marathon Launches Fault-Tolerant Software For Server Virtualization
CRN
http://www.crn.com/hardware/206905384

Marathon extends fault tolerance to VMs
IDG

• CIO
  http://www.cio.com/article/202450/Marathon_Extends_Fault_Tolerance_to_VMs
• InfoWorld
  http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/03/24/Marathon-extends-fault-tolerance-to-VMs_1.html
• Network World
  http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/032408-marathon-extends-fault-tolerance-to.html

everRun VM Hits the Ground Running
Virtual Strategy Magazine
http://www.virtual-strategy.com/vsm-podcasts/everrun-vm-hits-the-ground-running.html

We had the opportunity to speak with Brian Ducharme from Virtual Strategy Magazine back on April 17 when we announced our v-Available initiative and partnership with XenSource. If you are curious as to why we partnered with XenSource, give a listen as we go into greater detail about our reasoning. In addition, we share how we eliminate some of the barriers for adoption of virtualization. Listen to the podcast and our thoughts on providing true availability solutions for server virtualization.