Contributed Article By Bryan Semple, CMO, VKernel

Five Predictions for 2011

Reviewing many of the VKernel.com blog posts for 2010 provides some good fodder for predictions in 2011.

Prediction number one - VM stall makes its appearance in 2011. CA first coined the term "VM stall" and we agree with their analysis based on what we are seeing in the market.  With the first wave of virtualization projects complete, we see hesitancy in large organizations to move forward with more mission critical applications based on the performance, optimization, and sprawl issues observed during the first phase of virtualization. Moving to more core production applications will require investment in infrastructure management applications for capacity and performance.

Next up, Hyper-V appears. Despite years of predicting Hyper-V would start to chip away at VMware in enterprise data centers, this year it is for real. Since we announced our relationship with Microsoft supporting their private cloud initiative, the uptick in our Hyper-V only specific business has been surprising. We have also started to come across Hyper-V for VMware swap out deals.  Hence, we expect to see large Hyper-V installations in select Microsoft centric accounts in 2011.

Number three, private cloud adoption is slow. Chargeback for VMware usage is available from several vendors. The technology is not the missing link. A lack of agreed upon cost models will hamper true self -service private clouds.  External infrastructure cloud providers will assist with the business process adoption as they publish market prices for VM services.  But a lack of internal financial processes will take years to develop and implement.

Number four - VMware Master of World Domination Strategy hits some snags - VMware's strategy is compelling.  We agree with it.  It is the execution we disagree with.  VMware is just biting off more than it can feasibly deliver. Hence for 2011, expect to see more and more tech companies filling in the holes in the vision especially in virtualization management and cloud delivery. We have watched the pace of innovation with the VMware product that competes with VKernel's Capacity Management Suite, and a "point release" in 12 months does not meet the requirements for rapid innovation that the market demands.

Finally  - CPTN Holdings, the secretive Microsoft holding company that recently acquired some unknown assets from Novell will be uncovered by the TV show "60 Minutes" as not only owning IT assets from Novell, but also the top Burger King franchiser in America. I am serious on this one. 

Happy holidays and have a great New Year!

About the Author

A 15+ year high-tech veteran, Bryan Semple has spent the last 8 years working in server and storage companies focused on virtualization technologies. Semple comes to VKernel from NetApp where he was the general manager of the storage virtualization business unit. Under his leadership, the group experienced record growth, expanded engineering operations to India, and built global awareness for NetApp's industry leading storage virtualization solutions. Prior to NetApp, Bryan was VP of Marketing at Onaro where he established the company as a leader in storage management software and built the marketing processes that supported the company's profitability and successful acquisition by NetApp in 2008. Before Onaro, Bryan was the VP of Product Marketing and Strategy at server blade virtualization pioneer Egenera. At Egenera, Bryan worked with early adopters of infrastructure and server virtualization technologies in the financial services industry as the company scaled from one to several hundred customers. Early career experience includes various sales and marketing management positions at FairMarket, Trellix and Sybase. Bryan holds a BS in Systems Engineering from the US Naval Academy and an MBA from Stanford University.