1、Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00205369, Thomas J. Bittman, George J. Weiss, Mark A. Margevicius, Philip Dawson, 30 June 2011, RV3A207052012 The number of installed server VMs and containers has nearly doubled in the past year as competiti
2、on improves, virtualization adoption expands, the midmarket heats up, desktop virtualization drives more workloads to servers and workloads are deployed by cloud computing providers. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW As of mid-2011, at least 40% of x86 architecture workloads have been virtualized on servers; fu
3、rthermore, the installed base is expected to grow five-fold from 2010 through 2015 (as both the number of workloads in the marketplace grow and as penetration grows to more than 75%). A rapidly growing number of midmarket enterprises are virtualizing for the first time, and have several strong alter
4、natives from which to choose. Virtual machine (VM) and operating system (OS) software container technologies are being used as the foundational elements for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing offerings and for private cloud deployments. x86 server virtualization infrastructure is not
5、 a commodity market. While migration from one technology to another is certainly possible, the earlier that choice is made, the better, in terms of cost, skills and processes. Although virtualization can offer an immediate and tactical return on investment (ROI), virtualization is an extremely strat
6、egic foundation for infrastructure modernization, improving the speed and quality of IT services, and migrating to hybrid and public cloud computing. MAGIC QUADRANT Market Overview The x86 server virtualization infrastructure market is the foundation for two extremely important market trends: infras
7、tructure modernization and cloud computing. For infrastructure modernization, virtualization is being used to improve resource utilization, improve the speed of resource delivery and encapsulate workload images in a way that enables automation. Virtualization is also being used as a basis for cloud
8、computing both private and public. In the last year, the number of server virtual containers and VMs more than doubled, due to: Growth in workloads Rapid growth in customer adoption Increased use of hosted virtual desktops (HVDs; on servers) Increased use of cloud IaaS2 Significant growth in midmark
9、et enterprises beginning to virtualize for the first time Maturity of product offerings Interoperability between service providers and enterprises is becoming more important, as enterprises plan to build architectures that can enable workload migration to and from cloud providers, and hybrid cloud c
10、omputing (“cloudbursting”). x86 server virtualization infrastructure provides the foundation for new management and automation tools, new security architectures and new process methodologies. Although the technologies in the x86 server virtualization infrastructure market are simply enablers, these
11、technologies will be used by vendors to drive customers to higher-level management and automation technologies. Choices made at the lower layers matter. The market is becoming very competitive both in terms of product offerings and in terms of overarching visions for the road map to cloud computing.
12、 VMware remains the market share and technology leader, but the market is growing rapidly, and competitors like Microsoft and Citrix Systems have a larger share now than they did a year ago. While the majority of Global 1000 enterprises have been virtualizing for several years, many smaller enterpri
13、ses and those in emerging economies are just starting out, or havent started yet. These enterprises have several viable alternatives from which to choose. In addition, as the cloud computing paradigm continues to evolve, cloud service providers offering IaaS want to make interoperability with their
14、service offerings easy. A key trend in service providers is a shift to support better interoperability with existing enterprise virtualization infrastructures in many cases, expanding their support for the same technologies that enterprises are using. Market Definition/Description The x86 server vir
15、tualization infrastructure market is defined by organizations that are looking for solutions to virtualize applications from their x86 server hardware or OSs, reducing underutilized hardware and associated costs, and increasing flexibility in delivering the server capacity that applications need. In
16、 2011, we are adding HVDs (in server VMs) to the list of workloads covered by this market. Solutions for this market leverage: Hypervisors to create VMs Shared OS virtualization technologies (also called “containers”) S e r v e r v i r t u a l i z a t i o n a d m i n i s t r a t i v e m a n a g e m
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21、uced independently by its research organization without input or influence from these firms, funds or their managers. For further information on the independence and integrity of Gartner research, see “Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity” on its website, http:/ Figure 1. Magic Quadran
22、t for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure Source: Gartner (June 2011) challengers leaders niche players visionaries completeness of vision ability to execute As of June 2011 VMware Microsoft Citrix Systems Red Hat Parallels Oracle 3 Server virtualization embedded management (live migration and
23、basic automation of administrative management functions) Not included are higher-level management functions, such as operational automation tools that deal with virtual resources, application performance tools that leverage and monitor virtualization, disaster recovery tools that leverage virtualiza
24、tion, desktop provisioning and brokering software, etc. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria Vendors that were eligible for inclusion in this Magic Quadrant met the following criteria: They must provide x86 server-based solutions to virtualize applications from OSs, or OSs from x86 server hardware, usin
25、g: Hypervisors Container technology They must provide basic administrative tools for those solutions: Administrative management frameworks/suites for hypervisors/containers Embedded virtualization management technology (e.g., live migration) They must have at least 100 different organizations using
26、their generally available products as of 1 April 2011. Open-Source Communities (e.g., Xen and KVM Hypervisors) Versus Vendor-Embedded Open-Source Software Business Models The x86 server virtualization infrastructure Magic Quadrant includes only commercial vendor-based offerings, and not individual p
27、ositions and evaluations for open-source software (OSS) projects, such as KVM and Xen. The omission of Xen and KVM as OSS projects follows the same decision used in the 2010 Magic Quadrant. To reiterate, open-source projects would be penalized in the Magic Quadrant as a consequence of being a commun
28、ity- sponsored development, compared with the specific financial and marketing goals of vendors using the same underlying technology. Magic Quadrant positions established for Oracle and Citrix for Xen, and Red Hat for KVM achieve higher scores in marketing understanding, marketing strategy and sales
29、 strategy, compared with the open-source versions of Xen and KVM. Only skilled organizations that use OSS tools, or customized their own, will succeed without commercial vendor support. External service providers (ESPs), startups and entrepreneurs who have the necessary in-house skills can use open
30、source to develop, test, configure, build and maintain their own environments. Since ESPs are more likely to have the technical skills and shave margins in their services and product offerings to keep costs low, they will most likely develop and deploy their automation tools on a license- free OSS v
31、ersion of the hypervisor. Users have the choice of selecting either vendor-specific implementations of virtualization or OSS-community-supported projects, including the types of virtualization (OS hosted versus hypervisors) inclusive of monitoring and management tools, or a build-your-own approach,
32、with self-maintenance or support of ESPs. The self-maintenance and integration approach avoids subscription support licenses and vendor dependencies, but will add to internal support costs if skills are minimal or infrastructures are poorly implemented, resulting in more-frequent outages and downtim
33、e. Dropped Novell Attachmate (formerly Novell) Since last years Magic Quadrant, we have reconsidered the inclusion of SUSE (formerly Novell) and decided to omit it. There are several reasons for the omission: SUSE originally based its strategic virtualization direction on the Xen hypervisor (since 2
34、003) as part of the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform (well before the advent of KVM in 2007), but now offers a richer, heterogeneous, hypervisor-neutral approach to virtualization (with both Xen and KVM). The evolution of the heterogeneous approach has led to a strategy that is called the “perfect gue
35、st,” in which SUSE Linux can be employed as a guest on all major virtualization platforms, as a more strategic direction going forward. SUSE has formed alliances with Citrix, Microsoft and VMware to deliver cooperative support of SUSE Linux Enterprise as a guest OS on each of their hypervisors. The
36、perfect guest virtualization strategy will be targeted as a business by delivering management tools above the hypervisor layer in multivendor, heterogeneous environments. The Attachmate Groups acquisition of Novell closed 27 April 2011, and has created a separate business unit around SUSE Linux Ente
37、rprise and the former Open Platform Solutions unit of Novell, while virtualization management has been transferred to NetIQ, another business unit of The Attachmate Group. This represents an organizational shift from how Novell approached virtualization management, to an integrated approach expected
38、 from NetIQ. T h u s , i t i s p r e m a t u r e t o e v a l u a t e S U S E s v i s i o n a n d e x e c u t i o n (e.g., marketing, sales, etc.) for the Magic Quadrant until a greater level of market understanding is achieved. Heres what t o w a t c h f o r f r o m T h e A t t a c h m a t e G r o u
39、 p s S U S E a n d N e t I Q business units related to virtualization: How NetIQ delivers automation tools for virtualization and WorkloadIQ (formerly Intelligent Workload Manager) How SUSE prioritizes and enhances marketing and sales resources from its headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany4 How NetIQ
40、(Operational VMware Management) will integrate the Novell virtualization solutions as part of its virtualization strategy How the Microsoft relationship of cross-platform heterogeneity and management progresses for SUSEs and NetIQs benefits to customers Evaluation Criteria Ability to Execute We eval
41、uated technology providers on the quality and efficacy of the processes, systems, methods and procedures that enable IT provider performance to be competitive, efficient and effective, and to positively affect revenue, retention and reputation. Ultimately, technology providers are judged on their ab
42、ility and success in capitalizing on their vision. Ability to execute in server virtualization is not simply about product features, but also very much about maintaining a constantly changing business model in a very dynamic trend. Good products could fail, and poor products could be very successful
43、, based on effective vendor execution. Product/Service: Core goods and services offered by the technology provider that compete in/serve the defined market. This includes current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills, etc., whether offered natively or through OEM agreements/ pa
44、rtnerships. Key factors that are evaluated include: range of OSs and applications supported; scalability and efficiency; elasticity; maturity; embedded resource management; management features to reduce administrative burden; ability to administer the holistic, virtualized ecosystem; administrative
45、scalability; and integration with third-party enterprise management providers. Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization): An assessment of the overall organizations financial health, the financial and practical success of the business unit, and the likelihood of the indivi
46、dual business unit to continue to invest in the product, continue offering the product and advance the state of the art within the organizations portfolio of products. Sales Execution/Pricing: The technology providers capabilities in all presales activities, and the structure that supports them. Thi
47、s includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales support, and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel. Customers included are both enterprises and service providers. Market Responsiveness and Track Record: The ability to respond, change direction, be flexible and achieve competit
48、ive success as opportunities develop, competitors act, customer needs evolve and market dynamics change. This criterion also considers the providers history of responsiveness. Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity and efficacy of programs designed to deliver the organizations message
49、 to influence the market, promote the brand and business, increase awareness of the products, and establish a positive identification of the product/brand and organization in the minds of buyers. This mind share can be driven by a combination of publicity, promotional, thought leadership, word-of-mouth and sales activities. Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/ programs that enable clients to be successful with the products evaluated. Spec
