Earlier this week, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions and VMTurbo announced the signing of a new North America distribution agreement allowing Arrow ECS to bring VMTurbo's intelligent workload management solution to cloud and enterprise virtual data centers.  I recently had the chance to speak with and video interview VMTurbo at VMworld 2012, so I took the opportunity to again reach out to them to find out more information around this latest announcement.  And I was again fortunate to speak with VMTurbo's founder and CTO, Shmuel Kliger.  Here is our conversation.

VMblog:  Why did Arrow ECS look to add VMTurbo's solution to their portfolio?  And how will VMTurbo Operations Manager advance Arrow ECS in the virtualization market?

Shmuel Kliger:  As a reseller specializing in computing solutions, Arrow ECS saw the benefits we offer customers as a control system for the cloud. Equipped to meet performance requirements of business-critical workloads, Arrow ECS users are now able to advance with virtualization and cloud adoption initiatives. Arrow ECS recognized that entering into a distribution agreement with us would strengthen its position in the market. Its customers are on the lookout for a solution that ensures virtualized infrastructure is being truly optimized, and VMTurbo Operations Manager is able to do just that by automating resource allocation decisions.

VMblog:  So then, in what ways will VMTurbo benefit from the distribution announcement?

Kliger:  We are continuing to see customer interest in VMTurbo Operations Manager increase, as enterprises are making the transition to virtualized environments and recognizing the need for a holistic workload management solution. Arrow ECS has developed a strong relationship with VMware, in addition to many other providers that specialize in virtualization solutions. By entering into this agreement with Arrow ECS, we are able to further drive our VMTurbo Global Partner Program, enabling us to gain an even stronger standing in the industry.

VMblog:  Explain if you would, what the key need is that VMTurbo's solution addresses?

Kliger:  Cloud computing is currently in the Wizard of Oz “scarecrow” stage: it lacks a brain but is in desperate need of one. The arms and legs keep this computing in motion through mere orchestration, but continuing on this path will only lead to greater problems like server sprawl. To address this issue, we need to go far beyond the method of simply throwing workload at the cloud, and rely on using a higher level of intelligence and control to better our advancements in cloud computing. This is where VMTurbo’s intelligent workload solution comes into play, providing automation that ensures resources are allocated and utilized as efficiently and effectively as possible. VMTurbo Operations Manager acts as the brain of the cloud.

VMblog:  How does VMTurbo provide a new, innovative approach to workload management?

Kliger:  VMTurbo Operations Manager solution provides a fundamentally different method for controlling and managing data center and cloud infrastructures by employing a market-based approach that allocates resources, manages capacity, and ensures application performance based on the workload’s business priority. Our solution provides a cloud-scale control plane that identifies constraints and automates resource allocation decisions to enhance and expedite performance and meet SLAs. By balancing workload demand across server and storage infrastructure, VMTurbo optimizes application performance and utilization. It identifies under-/over-utilized physical server and storage capacity and provides corrective actions by considering a broad set of metrics and constraints, such as CPU, memory, network I/O, storage I/O, IOPS, latency, CPU ready queues, ballooning, swapping, clusters, vLANs, LUNs, business policies, and more.

VMblog:  Who is the typical end-user organization that would be looking to VMTurbo's solution and what is the benefit of going through the VAR channel?

Kliger:  Organizations that have made or are about to make the transition to virtualized environments greatly benefit from VMTurbo’s dynamic and comprehensive approach to IT management. Our solution grants IT control by driving automated, intelligent decision-making across the virtual data center. IT operators are able to escape the reactive, firefighting mode, and architects and planners effectively plan for new virtual applications. By reducing operator intervention, our solution eliminates manual, time-consuming interpretation of dashboard data, troubleshooting, and trial-and-error remediation. The planning features in VMTurbo Operations Manager aid virtualization architects and IT Operations in their initial deployment and ongoing expansion of virtualization by recommending intelligent workload placement. No more guesswork or spreadsheets to introduce changes to the environment.

Organizations that leverage VARs are counting on their expertise in planning, deploying and managing virtual and cloud environments, as well as their understanding of the vendor landscape. VARs can accelerate projects and avoid setbacks, based on their knowledge and depth of experience in virtualization initiatives.

VMblog:  You've recently stated that VMware is traversing down the wrong path in terms of developing a holistic and effective workload management solution. Can you explain your thoughts on this?

Kliger:  The need for a new approach to workload management is crucial for the future of cloud computing. An ideal solution is a holistic one, built from scratch that truly addresses the operations/workload management issues that IT faces today. Instead of employing this approach, VMware has been acquiring one-off products with the hopes that it will create a complete operations management solution. However, this is simply creating a Big Data problem due to VMware’s focus on collecting an immense amount of data.

VMblog:  So what should fans and customers of VMTurbo expect to see in the near future?

Kliger:  Enterprises are turning to virtualization to meet business requirements, and in doing so, are recognizing the need for better workload management solutions. As customers rely on us to optimize performance, we will continue to deliver a holistic solution to IT management. Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements, as this will be a busy next few months.

Thanks again to Shmuel Kliger, founder and CTO of VMTurbo, for speaking with VMblog on the subject.