System iNetwork

September 8, 2008

PowerVM on the Rise

The last time I spoke with Ross Mauri, general manager of IBM Power Systems, he mentioned IBM's new PowerVM virtualization technology and his thoughts on what's going on with virtualization. It was a side note, really, in a conversation about the System i and IBM i financial performance and IBM's quarterly reports, but Mauri made a few points I've been wanting to share. Today, it turns out, is the day for sharing.

"One of the interesting things for the quarter," Mauri said, is that "64 percent of all orders went out with PowerVM, which is starting a significant uptrend. In past years, the virtualization technology was mostly used on the high-end systems, a little on midrange, and not below. And now we're seeing very good penetration in midrange and even down into the 550 systems. So our PowerVM story is resonating with customers and penetrating across the line."

So why do I bring this up now?

As the new Power System lineup settles down and IBM i versions become available across the line, there's a good chance that we'll have some decent sales that can help provide some trend news. Besides, in the history of all IBM name changes and name creation, I can't think of a better move than "PowerVM"--especially as the x86 virtualization world heats up as Microsoft's Hyper-V and VMWare's suite battle for mind and market share.

In addition, Mauri noted seeing some anecdotal movement. Of IBM's larger customers, "Some were into virtualization before, some had decided not to try it all . . . but now, they are all thinking through virtualization options because of both the flexibility it gives them and the better HA characteristics," he said. "I would expect that 570, 595 i clients will--there will be a major shift to a virtualized world over the next two years, and I'm watching that closely, and that's my prediction. Smaller and mid-sized customers in the mid-market . . . I think there will be a lot who will buy 520 and towers, but I also think we'll begin seeing a significant shift to blades."

No matter what the adoption rate is, if the only good that PowerVM brings to the IBM i world is the knowledge that it exists alongside other modern virtualization solutions, that's still good for i.

Posted by cmaxcer at September 8, 2008 9:30 AM