Hot tech startup: V-Kernel

Founded: 2007

Tech breakthrough: Algorithms that analyze data collected on virtual machines and predict future problems based on performance trends.

Business problem addressed: Managing and balancing virtual servers and billing users appropriately for consumption of specific resources.

What the technology does: V-Kernel offers a suite of Java- and AJAX-based appliances to manage virtual servers in EMC VMware ESX environments. Virtual machines, by definition, share hardware resources such as CPU, memory, storage, and network controllers. Resources have to be allocated and often billed. V-Kernel's software produces a chargeback report that measures the amount of hardware resources consumed by each virtual machine and allocates those costs to users based on cost metrics chosen by administrators. V-Kernel's Capacity Bottleneck Analyzer predicts shortages of resources on hosts, resource pools, and clusters, and it produces maps showing where virtual machines can be safely added to physical servers.

How the technology works: V-Kernel integrates with VMware's Virtual Center, pulling data on virtual machines from it, and updating itself as changes are made. (If necessary, the data can be pulled directly from the virtual machine, though that process is more difficult.) It can group services to resources by using VM IDs, and it uses an algorithm to proportionally allocate resources when multiple applications or services share multiple machines. As historical data accumulates, V-Kernel's algorithms spot and monitor performance and usage trends, and produce reports. Reports can be extended with custom fields.

Forward spin: V-Kernel currently supports only VMware, but other hypervisors, including those from Microsoft and Citrix, will be supported in the future. V-Kernel plans to release five to 10 new virtual appliances this year.