EMC Webcasts are in full effect! Over 20,000 viewers have registered for these webcasts, why haven’t you!? Every Thursday we cover the hottest topics hitting the virtualization scene, and this month isn’t going to be any different!

We have five hot topics for you this month, everything from Virtualizing Oracle to Delivering IT as a Service! And for a special treat we have Chad’s Choice at the end of the month where VMware Technology Alliance Vice President, Chad Sakac, delivers the hottest topics flowing around the virtualization ecosphere…this is one webcast you do not want to miss!

Want to hear them all? Register for the entire series and never miss an episode!

Delivering IT as a Service: Best Practices
Thursday, March 3, 2011 - 8 am PT / 11 am ET / 16:00 GMT
Explore how EMC Consulting can help you establish priorities for cloud services; create a unique portfolio of services to guide cloud management and automation; and reveal full visibility of business and IT service performance.

Top 5 Reasons to Deploy Virtualized Microsoft Applications on VNX Family
Thursday, March 10, 2011 - 8 am PT / 11 am ET / 16:00 GMT
Learn the top reasons why organizations have successfully implemented Microsoft applications like Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL databases on the new EMC VNX Family.

Optimize Your Data Paths with PowerPath/VE
Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 8 am PT / 11 am ET / 15:00 GMT
Discover the advantages of EMC PowerPath/VE with its comprehensive load balancing policies, path failover, path recovery, and path management capabilities.

Top 5 Reasons to Virtualize Oracle Databases
Thursday, March 24, 2011 - 8 am PT / 11 am ET / 15:00 GMT
Examine the top reasons to optimize Oracle database performance and maximize IT efficiency through tightly integrated EMC and VMware solutions.

Chad’s Choice - Virtually Any Virtualization Topic!
Thursday, March 31, 2011 - 8 am PT / 11 am ET / 15:00 GMT
Find out the latest virtualization topics from Chad Sakac, VP VMware Technology Alliance, EMC. Get key updates on new technologies, hear honest answers to your most demanding questions, and see intriguing technical demos.

Want to hear them all? Register for the entire series and never miss an episode!

Posted under EMC, Good Reading

vmware Labs has released vCenter XVP Manager and Converter, their first stab into management of non-VMware virtualized environments. vCenter XVP Manager allows you to use the vSphere Client to manage Hyper-V Server 2008 hosts and their associated virtual machines, it also allows you to easily migrate those Hyper-V based virtual machines into VMware virtual machines.

The installation is pretty simple, you first install a server piece that could very well be installed on your vCenter Server, then you install a XVP Manager Plug-in into your vSphere Client which is done via the vSphere Client Plug-in Manager.

This product is currently only listed as a vmware Labs Fling, which means that it is not guaranteed that it will continue beyond it’s 1.0 Technical Preview status, but if people like it and push vmware for this type of functionality we may very well see it embedded within the core vCenter Server product.

For more information and to download vmware vCenter XVP Manager check out the vmware Labs website.

Posted under Hyper-V, vCenter

I know this isn’t related to Virtualization, but it is still pretty cool.  At the office I use Outlook, which is connected to an Exchange 2007 server.  I have my entire calendar live and up to date in that thing and one problem I’ve always been faced with is accessing Exchange via Outlook on my Home PC.  Due to security limitations I need to use Outlook Web Access (OWA) from outside our firewall, however I still use Outlook at home for access to my other IMAP accounts and Hotmail - but if I ever want to look at my calendar, I need to sign into OWA…it’s a PITA if you ask me.

Well, Google released a Calendar Sync tool that syncs your Outlook calendar to Google Calendar. I decided to start using this because my homepage is iGoogle, thus I can see my calendar from home right on my homepage without having to log-in. 

Now lets take it a step further, I installed Google Sync on my Home PC and now I have all my calendar entries from Exchange sync’d to Google Calendar and then sync’d to my Home PC - editable from any device (with 2-way sync enabled).

Posted under Good Reading, Microsoft

Many of you know that I’m not the biggest Microsoft fan, however some announcements today will definitely create some waves so I feel that all of my readers must be informed.

Big announcement today from Microsoft, their long awaited next generation desktop operating system Windows Vista R2 (more commonly known as Windows 7) and server operating system Windows 2008 R2 have been released to manufacturing.

The biggest enhancements to Windows 2008 are to Hyper-V, along with the addition of 240 cmdlets to Powershell and another upgrade to IIS. Additional information on the Windows 2008 R2 RTM can be found here.

For a lot of companies, Windows 7 might actually be a bigger announcement than Windows 2008 R2.  Windows 7 will most likely be the next biggest upgrade to desktop PCs in the enterprise. A good majority of companies have avoided upgrading to Windows Vista due to problems in its initial release, that mixed with the bad press Vista has received since day one have kept a majority of the Fortune 500 on Windows XP. More information on the Windows 7 RTM can be found here.

Posted under Microsoft

Rodos posted a very nice blog covering the big events that involved VMware in 2008.  Like he states, I do not believe this is the entire list, but I tell you what….It has definietely been busy enough for me, I am ready for a little R&R - 2009 is sure to be even busier!

Read More…

Posted under Good Reading, VMware