Useful Information about how software appliances and

virtualization technologies are transforming

hardware and software infrastructures.

Q.: What does virtualization

mean to most IT professionals?

A.: Virtualization is the creation of a

virtual rather than actual version of something,

such as an operating system, server,

storage device, or network resources. Since

the introduction of virtualization software

to the x86 server market, the industry has

recognized the advantages of executing software

in an environment separated from the

underlying hardware resources. But there’s

more to it than simply abstracting an operating

system from the hardware it runs on.

There are other benefits including flexibility,

speed of deployment, availability, disaster

recovery, and of course the ability to provision

workloads to servers more efficiently.

Q.: How have virtualization

technologies changed over the years?

A.: For one thing, they have become less

expensive. There are also a lot more players

in the market now that the technologies

have matured. However, in parallel, we are

seeing the base virtualization technologies

increasingly integrated into the core operating

systems. Thus you no longer have to go

out and buy virtualization as a standalone

solution—although many customers continue

to select best-of-breed products from

multiple suppliers.

Q.: How have these developments

affected Oracle’s technology stack?

A.: We see Oracle working to leverage virtualization

to simplify IT for customers. Take,

for instance, Oracle’s work with templates

to create software appliances. A software

appliance is a preintegrated collection of

software assets, which typically includes an

operating system and some layer of functionality

such as application software and

a database. Traditionally, this collection of

software components was installed and integrated

by IT professionals or consultants at

the customer’s deployment site. Oracle VM

Templates take all those components and

integrate them into a single virtual machine

that can be installed on a hypervisor and

literally turned on. Templates and software

appliances can also be prepackaged with

hardware, which gives customers a fully integrated

solution that can be put to work right

away. With the acquisition of Sun, Oracle

now has all the software and hardware components

it needs to put solutions together

in a template form based on Linux, Oracle

Solaris on x86, and SPARC architectures. This

is a good example for how virtualization can

be a tool for simplification.

Q.: What are the advantages to

packaging up hardware and software functionality

in this way?

A.: Customers obtain a one-stop shop for

acquiring their software stack and support.

A single company handles the integration,

regression testing, impact analysis, and so

forth on all the layers.

Q.: What changes do you see

in the virtualization landscape over the next

three to five years?

A.: Despite all the hype about virtualization,

the penetration of these technologies

is less than 20 percent on the installed base

of servers across the industry. Customer

use of virtualization is growing as existing

installed-base systems are turned over, but

customers typically replace their server platforms

every three to five years and deploy

new operating systems and a virtualized

infrastructure during those refresh cycles. So

you can look at the next five years as a likely

time during which virtualization technologies

will become more prevalent.

Q.: What skill sets do IT professionals

need for a virtualized infrastructure?

A.: Systems management is important

and goes hand in hand with virtualization,

because virtualization does not simplify

management—it complicates it. System

administrators must be aware of the business

requirements and expected service

levels of each application. That’s easier to

do when each application resides on its own

server. Ironically, virtualization often makes

more servers more—rather than less—

business critical. We now have capable management

software tools that can automate

provisioning decisions, but administrators

also need to change their thinking about how

the resources fit together. You’re doing yourself

a disservice by virtualizing without first

addressing these management issues.