We’ve said before that Linux virtualization technologies – KVM and Xen – represent compelling alternatives to VMware’s proprietary and locked hypervisor.

As we recently announced, Convirture built strong momentum in 2011 increasing our customer base ten-fold for the commercial product, ConVirt Enterprise. We now have customers for our commercial product offerings in every global region, including North and South America, EMEA and Asia. And, our open source version of ConVirt has now been downloaded more than 60,000 times. In total, ConVirt software, which is available for most major Linux distributions including Debian, OpenSUSE and Ubuntu, is now being used by more than 8,000 businesses.

We see the compass pointing unmistakably toward open source and away from VMware’s expensive technology. And, evidently, we’re not alone with Red Hat in the fray with us.

We always knew that KVM and Xen represented a compelling alternative to VMware’s proprietary and locked hypervisor. We have many users and customers who are taking advantage of open source’s ability to provide a free platform on which to build out a virtual datacenter before committing to it. As a result, KVM and Xen make it into production from the outside margins of many companies and work their way in.

What these stories also tell us is that VMware’s pricing is so scary for businesses that change is also coming from the inside of enterprises. IT managers are now considering ripping and replacing VMware with open source. Clearly, the cost/benefit/performance analysis that people are doing demonstrate an ROI that justifies abandoning VMware’s ongoing license fees and adapting KVM and Xen.

As the ecosystem, management tools and support for the KVM and Xen hypervisors continue to grow and improve, performance differentiations with VMware will become increasingly irrelevant and IT managers will be able to judge based simply on what is delivering the best VALUE to their organization.

The compass is pointing unmistakably toward open source.

In the meantime, Jason has just blogged describing his impressions part way into the review and, most interestingly, has asked for input from everyone on any specific areas you are particularly interested in and would like to see tested.

You can read Jason’s blog post here.

So, don’t be shy. Drop eWeek a note or comment, tell them what you’d like to see tested, and help them get you the answers to your burning questions!

The company is currently migrating most of its production physical server infrastructure over to a virtualized environment, which is built on Ubuntu 10.04 Long Term Support (LTS). The virtual servers are built on the KVM hypervisor and are being configured and managed by JT staff using ConVirt virtualization management software.

“We wanted to use KVM virtualization and we knew that we needed a good management interface as there was no way the virtual idea would have seen much adoption if provisioning had been done via command line using virsh or some other such tool,” said Jamie McDonald, IP Linux Administrator for JT. “ConVirt has a clean user interface and is self-explanatory for the end user. This meant a less steep learning curve for team members who would ultimately use the tool. It has an easy and clear method of provisioning virtual machines and a handy templating system. For example we have many networks within JT, so the ability to provision a new NIC on a specific VM and connect it to the appropriate bridge by an end user with the click of a few buttons without calling someone more technical was a great plus.”

A complex datacenter runs smoothly on open source virtualization

The various physical servers which are now being virtualized vary widely in their roles at JT. They include in-house web application servers running key applications that are used throughout the business, as well as public-facing web servers for speed testing and RSS service status announcement. JT runs centralized authentication servers for its internal routers in their own high availability VMs. The company also runs various analysis tools, which monitor netflow data watching for inbound traffic spikes for black holing DOS attacks as well as centralized puppet and syslog servers.

JT also frequently performs proof-of-concept tests which require non-production servers to be available. This was previously performed using a batch of old workstations from the IT department, but now all takes place within the virtual environment, which saves time by eliminating the need to ‘recycle’ test systems between team members.

Results: Open source virtualization saves time and money

Consolidating on open source and specifically KVM-based virtual servers managed by ConVirt has delivered measurable results for JT:

• Improved resource management – With physical servers, JT may have had a 4GB server only using 1GB of memory. Now, the company can de-couple the services to their own VM’s and issue them with exactly the right resources. Using ConVirt, IT staff can quickly adjust the virtual machine to meet changing needs.
• Power/cooling cost savings – Through the use of less physical servers as systems are migrated to the virtual platform.
• Reclaimed rack space – As physical servers are virtualized and then decommissioned
• Flexibility – IT staff can quickly create test environments and proof-of-concepts, as well as production servers without regard to limitations associated by available hardware
• Saved switch ports – Previously each physical server would have required a spare switch port into a VLAN. Now, JT has one port per VLAN and simply connects the virtual servers to the bridge.
• Speed – Provisioning a machine from an ISO connection directly to a SAN provides much faster install times than with a physical server and a cdrom drive.

“The success we’ve achieved to date using open source software, virtualization and ConVirt to manage it all proves that there really is a choice for customers who do not want to be locked into a single vendor,” said McDonald. “We looked at many options, including VMware vCenter, Microsoft Hyper-V as well as other open source-based products like OpenNebula, and ConVirt delivered exactly what we needed. It enables us to serve our customers better while effectively positioning the company for future growth, both in terms of customers and the types of services we offer to them.”

About JT

JT is part of the JT Group Ltd, an innovative and progressive communications enabler, which provides world-class products and solutions to a diverse client base. Their product range encompasses all the products and services expected from a cutting edge provider which specializes in Gigabit Broadband – Fibre-to-the-Home, Data Hosting & Co-Location, Fixed & Mobile technologies and Wholesale solutions that further support their place on the global business stage.

About Convirture

Convirture was founded in 2006 to help organizations effectively manage open source virtualization platforms. More information is available at www.convirture.com.

We recently announced our newest pride and joy — ConVirt Enterprise Cloud — which enables organizations to consolidate management of their virtualized datacenters and hybrid cloud under a single, unified management system and console.  The early response from our beta users has been phenomenal. It is also gratifying to see that the tech-savvy media just seem to get it:

Dan Kusnetzky chimed in on ZDNet by saying that

“…think that their (i.e. Convirture’s) virtual data center concept makes sense — making it possible to see the resources in use and managing those resources in complex virtual environments regardless of whether they are on-premise, in the cloud or some combination.”

Says Michael Vizard from IT Business Edge.

“…[S]ince VMware changed its pricing, interest in open source virtual machine platforms has spiked. But customers need sophisticated management tools such as Enterprise Cloud to automate the deployment and provisioning of these virtual machines”

Joe Brockmeier at ReadWriteCloud‘s take:

“ConVirt offers an easy to use Web-based management console for wrangling virtualized infrastructure and cloud services. … It does seem that Convirture has identified one of the key problems facing enterprise IT departments right now.”

ZDnet’s Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols likes that

“… [ConVirt] can give me management support for my local cloud, a remote datacenter private cloud, and public clouds like Amazon’s offering. Speaking as someone who does a lot of networking work, I also like that I can choose to put a client on an existing corporate network, pre-configure Virtual LANs for them, or allow the cloud to create its own VLANs within a specified address range.”

ConVirt Enterprise Cloud builds on the successes of ConVirt Open Source and ConVirt Enterprise as a strong, open, and cost-effective alternative to the likes of VMWare. We absolutely can’t wait to put ConVirt Enterprise Cloud into customers’ hands and hear their reactions when it becomes generally available in about a month.