Stories by: Deni Connor

Managing both the hardware and software of rivals has been a standard feature for management software vendors for years. Only recently however, have virtualization vendors begun to follow suit -- offering the ability to manage not only their own virtual server environments, but those of competitors as well.

Virtual-server vendors are following the example of systems-management and physical-server vendors by expanding their management applications to control not only their own virtual server environments, but those of their competitors.

Even as Microsoft rolls out ever-more-refined beta versions of its hypervisor, VMware is emphasizing technical knowledge about virtualization in general and facility with its own products in particular as a way to maintain its market dominance. Its most recent evolution is a certification program designed for the architects behind virtualization deployments, a move that is generally applauded by IT managers.

These days in IT, you can buy a service for anything - including, once again, your storage.

John Lewis, IS director at Geokinetics, didn't let the geophysical services company's rapid growth shake him up.

When it comes to backing up virtual servers, IT administrators have a lot of choices. But increasingly, they're finding one method of backup isn't enough to satisfy all the demands of a virtual environment.

Cutting back on the amount of power a datacentre consumes isn't necessarily tricky, but it does require a holistic approach that considers the IT, cooling and power infrastructures. As Kfir Godrich, CTO for EYP Mission Critical Facilities, a datacentre consultancy, says: "If you are not looking at your datacentre from the utility input down to the chip, and then back to the power and cooling, you are missing the target." These five tips - some for the here and now and others for longer-term strategizing - will help you curb power use in the datacentre.

Quest Software announced it had acquired Provision Networks, a maker of desktop virtualization software, to bolster its portfolio of heterogeneous virtualization-management tools.

Bocada, Arsenal Digital Solutions and Digisense separately announced upgraded software and services designed to help enterprises better manage and protect their data.

3PAR has rolled out software for divvying up its high-end disk arrays logically rather than physically.

Dell announced Monday plans to buy IP storage-area network vendor, EqualLogic for $US1.4 billion, strengthening an already booming part of Dell's business.