Embotics, the Virtualization Lifecycle Management™ Company, today announced V-Scout, a free insight tool that gives virtual machine (VM) administrators complete and detailed oversight of their virtual environment. Organizations can use V-Scout, free of charge, to assess their growing virtualization deployments, gain better control over their infrastructure and avoid common problems like virtual sprawl.

“Insight is a crucial first step for virtualization managers. Until an IT administrator knows exactly what is happening in the virtual environment, there is no hope of controlling it,” said Richard Losier, vice president of Zentra Computer Technologies Inc. “V-Scout is easy to use and automates the data collection and reporting, providing critical information on our virtualization infrastructure at no cost.”

In order to maintain control of a virtualization environment, IT managers need to quickly recognize, understand and account for all virtual machines. V-Scout eases the job of the VM administrator by not only replacing the commonly used tracking spreadsheets, but by automating the data collection and providing consistent and effective reporting on demand. V-Scout complements Embotics’ flagship product, V-Commander, a true policy-based management and control system for virtual machines that prevents virtual sprawl.

V-Scout’s automated and real-time population reports are complete with historical trending and costing. V-Scout’s costing system allows users to associate costs to virtual machines, and determine how they are changing over time. Administrators can also associate custom information such as business owner, application, expiry date, project name, etc. The built-in sort, filter and report capabilities grant fast and easy generation of reports, incorporating any of these custom attributes.

“Virtual machines are dynamic by nature. Gaining insight and reporting in real-time on a virtualized infrastructure is the first step towards controlling the environment,” said Cameron Haight, Research Vice President, with Gartner. “Control is one of the keys to preventing VM sprawl, which can act to negate some of the benefits of a virtual environment.”

Companies globally are confirming the benefits of server virtualization, from an initial impressive return on investment (ROI) attached to server consolidation and greater flexibility in the data center to a better level of service for business customers.

Jay Litkey, president and CEO of Embotics says, “Embotics is focused on best-in-class products aimed at managing and controlling virtual machines throughout their lifecycle to prevent costly virtual sprawl. Our customers tell us that insight is a critical starting point for all organizations working with virtualized servers. V-Scout will help administrators better understand their environments, which in turn leads to improved control, allowing organizations to take better advantage of the value that virtualization brings.”

V-Scout is available for download from the Embotics website, as well as a range of other downloadable sites, and will be publicly debuted at VMworld 2008 in booth #327 from September 15-18, in Las Vegas, NV.