A start-up called Elastra is launching Tuesday with software that helps customers build database management systems and other applications that can be deployed on top of Amazon's EC2 cloud computing service.

Dell will take a big giant step out ahead of HP and IBM in the virtualization sweepstakes when it announces that it is OEMing PAN, Egenera's data center virtualization and management software. Egenera, which has been doing virtualization way longer than most people, claims PAN is the epitome of what IDC calls 'Virtualization 2.0,' the next step beyond simple VMware-style single server virtualization replete with scalability, faster provisioning, high availability, disaster recovery and resource balancing.

VMware plans to improve virtual infrastructure through technologies such as high availability, automatic restart, better tolerance and masking of hardware failure, and site disaster recovery, the company's chief scientist and co-founder, Mendel Rosenblum, told reporters in Bangalore on Monday.

Marathon's virtualization tool simplifies disaster recovery

VaST Systems and NEC Electronics America announced the availability and development of virtual models of NEC Electronics' 32-bit V850-based microcontroller units (MCUs). The new offering involves NEC Electronics' V850ES/Fx3 MCUs for automotive body applications and the V850ES/Rx3 MCUs for safety control, all of which are based on NEC Electronics' V850 processor core.

As part of its strategy to provide the most complete solution for secure virtualization, McAfee Foundstone Professional Services also outlined a set of security guidelines covering people, processes and technology to educate enterprises adopting virtualization technologies.

HP Monday is set to unveil server, software and service offerings that it says can help organizations transform expensive, underutilized data centers into virtualized, energy-efficient facilities that support business needs as they change.

2007 was a breakout year for virtualization, as it finally hit the mainstream. But where do we go from here? The virtualization 'wave' is just forming. And while server virtualization is at full crest, there are many more waves behind this that are taking shape and quite frankly, are more significant.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Altor Networks CEO, Amir Ben-Efraim, so that I could find out more information about virtual networks and what Altor Networks is trying to do with them. Q: So if you would, please tell us about Altor Networks? Altor Networks is a virtual network security company whose vision is to make the virtual network more secure than its physical counterpart. Our team consists of world-class experts in network security, with experience from some of the most respected vendors in the industry. Q: And what does the company do or provide?

This presentation will compare and constrast web application virtualization solutions such as WebSphere Extended Deployment and hardware virtualization solutions. Particular emphasis will be provided on how the two solutions can be combined to provide the most flexible web application hosting environment.