Virtual Iron Software (www.virtualiron.com), the leading provider of server virtualization and virtual infrastructure management software based on the Xen® open source hypervisor, today announced the general availability of its fully featured solution pre-configured on select IBM System x servers. The bundles are available immediately through Tech Data’s Advanced Infrastructure Solutions (AIS) Division and its network of value-added resellers in North America. The pre-configured solutions offer ready-to-use, enterprise-class virtualization and management capabilities to help users reduce operating costs, streamline data center management and reduce server counts and power, cooling and space requirements.

The bundles include the IBM System x, 3500, 3550 and 3655 with Virtual Iron Version 4 Extended Enterprise Edition. The pre-configured solutions support enterprise-class server consolidation and complete management of multiple Windows and Linux operating systems on a single server or across multiple servers. The combinations are designed for easy deployment and management and enable VARs to provide cost-effective and efficiently managed data center solutions that provide higher performance and more reliable service levels.

"Customers are coming to find that virtualization is a great way to unlock the power of industry leading System x rack and tower servers and Virtual Iron has a proven virtualization and management offering that provides a cost-effective way to increase the utilization of your servers while increasing the availability of your solution, " said Jim Northington, vice president, IBM System x. "Tech Data offers our mutual customers pre-configured solution bundles that are both IBM ServerProven and IBM StorageProven, backed by Tech Data's extensive technical expertise and integration support services and available from a large network of trusted resellers.”

The IBM System x 3500, 3550 and 3655 are designed for a wide range of applications ranging from web servers to production workload consolidation. They offer high-speed dual-core and quad-core processors with exceptional front side bus performance. Both the x3550 and x3655 feature highly functional infrastructure that supports more memory, lowers power consumption and provides for outstanding system performance. The 3500 offers leading edge capacity and high-speed I/O scalability. All three systems include hardware virtualization extensions from Intel or AMD for additional improvements in virtualization performance.

"Virtual Iron running on IBM System x provides a highly reliable, comprehensive and cost-effective solution for virtualization and management that is ideal for a very broad range of small, medium and large organizations,” said George Pappas, vice president of sales, Saturn Business Systems, an IBM Premier Business Partner. “The combination provides easy-to-use, enterprise-class capabilities for mainstream users and opens up new market segments for its value added channel partners.”

Tech Data’s Advanced Infrastructure Solutions (AIS) Division combines a high-touch, consultative sales approach with the distributor's extensive technical expertise and broad product knowledge to help value-added resellers capitalize on the demand for mid-market and enterprise-level server, storage and software solutions. With Virtual Iron, Tech Data provides consultative solution sales support for qualified value-added resellers focused on the latest enterprise server, storage and other data center infrastructure solutions.

“Virtual Iron’s partnership with an industry leader like IBM better enables VARs to deliver a wide range of server virtualization solutions,” said Amy Belcher, Tech Data’s director, marketing, Advanced Infrastructure Solutions. “Today’s announcement demonstrates Virtual Iron’s strong channel commitment by building key partnerships and introducing valuable solutions VARs can leverage to capitalize on the demand for virtualization solutions.”

Virtual Iron 4.0 provides enterprise-class server virtualization and virtual infrastructure management capabilities at a fraction of the cost of comparable alternatives. It includes LiveConvert™, an automated X2V conversion software solution powered by PlateSpin that enables customers to easily migrate workloads (data, applications, and operating systems) across physical, virtual, blade and image-based infrastructures in any direction. The Virtual Iron 4.0 platform combines the latest version of the Xen open source hypervisor with advanced virtualization services and policy-based automation capabilities such as LiveMigrate™, LiveRecovery™ and LiveCapacity™. It also takes full advantage of the latest hardware–assisted virtualization capabilities from AMD and Intel to deliver near native performance.

The software provides large memory support (up to 128 GB), large SMP capabilities (up to 8 virtual CPUs) and the ability to virtualize server platforms with up to 32 physical CPUs. Unlike other virtualization solutions, Virtual Iron also offers LiveProvisioning™, a “zero touch” automated deployment capability that eliminates the need for physical installation or management of virtualization software on virtualized physical servers. In addition, Virtual Iron’s unique shared storage architecture eliminates the need for complex, proprietary clustered file systems when migrating workloads. This further expands and simplifies users’ ability to support advanced use cases such as high availability, disaster recovery and capacity management.

"These IBM-Virtual Iron solution bundles provide enterprise-class capabilities for server virtualization and virtual infrastructure management,” said Mike Grandinetti, chief marketing officer for Virtual Iron. “Combining the scalability and energy-efficiency of IBM System x with Virtual Iron’s comprehensive virtualization capabilities gives our value-added resellers the ability to respond directly to the demanding requirements of their diverse customer base.”

To learn more about the IBM-Virtual Iron server virtualization and management solution bundle, resellers can visit http://www.techdata.com. Additional details can also be found at http://www.virtualiron.com/ibm.