Virtual Iron Announces General Availability of Version 3.5 with Support for iSCSI Storage and Single Server Installation

Server Virtualization Provider Broadens Support for Cost-Effective Network Storage and Simplifies Adoption and Deployment of Virtual Infrastructure Management

Lowell, MA, March 5, 2007 – Virtual Iron Software (www.virtualiron.com), a provider of server virtualization and virtual infrastructure management software solutions, today announced the general availability of Version 3.5 of its enterprise-class virtualization platform. The new release provides for more simple and cost-effective shared storage to facilitate the mainstream adoption of virtual infrastructure management capabilities such as LiveMigration, LiveRecovery, LiveCapacity and LiveMaintenance of virtual servers. The new release also adds single server installation to simplify deployment and configuration.

Version 3.5 provides comparable capabilities to VMware for one-fifth the cost. It is generally available now. Users can try it for free simply by downloading it at http://www.virtualiron.com/free.

"Cost and complexity are the two major hurdles to broad adoption of server virtualization inside the enterprise," said Chris Wolf, Senior Analyst, Burton Group. "During the evaluation process, organizations should strongly consider server virtualization platforms that support automated capacity management and virtual machine failover. Virtualization solutions that reduce complexity while automating virtual machine availability are best positioned for widespread adoption and long term success."

Virtual Iron is one of only two virtualization vendors with the advanced workload migration capabilities required to support automated capacity management and virtual machine failover. With Version 3.5, Virtual Iron has made these capabilities easier to use for the mainstream market by providing support for simpler and more cost-effective iSCSI-based shared storage. This will facilitate the broad adoption of Virtual Iron’s virtual infrastructure management capabilities including LiveMigration, LiveRecovery, LiveCapacity and LiveMaintenance. With Version 3.5, Virtual Iron is also providing the mainstream market with a server virtualization solution that is easier to install, deploy and configure than comparable alternatives. It combines advanced virtualization and policy-based management to deliver all the capabilities and benefits of primary virtualization use cases.

“Our primary objectives were to virtualize our environment while taking advantage of the new Intel VT technology on our HP blade servers without any disruption to our customers,” said Gentry Ganote, CIO of Golf and Tennis Pro Shop, Inc. which owns PGA TOUR Superstore, a user of Virtual Iron. “With Virtual Iron, the performance of the virtual machines is outstanding and everything integrated seamlessly with our blades and fibre channel SAN. As a fast-growing company, cost was a major concern. With the addition of iSCSI support, we can leverage our SAN more cost effectively, implementing less expensive virtual nodes without the need for fibre channel HBAs. Virtualization simplifies your infrastructure, but it is still a complex technology. We can now easily manage our servers from the Virtual Iron Virtualization Manager console, and provide a level of reliability and ease of deployment previously not available from our physical server environment. We are extremely pleased with the Virtual Iron platform.”

Some of the new features in Virtual Iron Version 3.5 include:

• iSCSI Storage Support – delivers network storage capabilities over standard Ethernet networks providing users with a simpler, more cost-effective means for network storage. iSCSI is a single networking technology for clients, servers and storage. It has quickly become dominant in small and medium-sized businesses and is gaining widespread popularity in large and very large enterprises both at a departmental level and as an enterprise backbone. iSCSI SAN is just one tenth the cost of fibre channel SAN on a per port basis.
• Single Server Installation – simplifies deployment and eliminates network configuration steps. Users can now download Virtual Iron Virtualization Manager and Virtualization Services on the same server that is running the virtual servers. This provides a single server virtualization solution for simple server consolidation while also reinforcing Virtual Iron’s position as the easiest enterprise-class server virtualization and management solution to deploy, configure and use. With Virtual Iron 3.5, users can now install the software on a single server. Hardware discovery and deployment on the virtualized nodes happen automatically. In contrast VMware requires users to install and deploy the software on every individual physical server to be virtualized.
• LDAP – provides an industry-standard user authentication capability to simplify user management and improve integration with enterprise processes and infrastructure. Virtual Iron supports Microsoft Active Directory and OpenLDAP.

According to Gartner, the cost advantage of the iSCSI network infrastructure is most pronounced in Windows and Linux environments where initiators are typically NICs with software implementation of the iSCSI protocol. Gartner estimates that revenue for iSCSI disk storage systems, including that attributable to unified storage, exceeded $200 million in 2005 and will about double each year during the next few years.

"Virtual Iron is absolutely committed to enabling the mainstream adoption of advanced server virtualization and virtual infrastructure management,” said Mike Grandinetti, Chief Marketing Officer at Virtual Iron Software. “Network storage is an important requirement for virtual server LiveMigration and business continuity solutions. With the release of Version 3.5, including support for cost-effective shared storage and simplified installation and deployment, we’re taking the next step to mainstream user adoption.”

"Customers have embraced iSCSI storage and server virtualization to reduce data center complexity and increase IT flexibility," said Ziya Aral, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of DataCore Software. "Virtual Iron’s virtual infrastructure and DataCore’s SANmelody storage virtualization provide enterprise-class network storage for a wide range of data center environments. With Virtual Iron's native iSCSI support, the simplicity of achieving the benefits of consolidation and automated capacity management are now readily available for a broad segment of the market."

“With Version 3.5 and the addition of iSCSI support and single server installation, Virtual Iron continues to expand adoption and reduce the cost for enterprise-class virtualization and management,” said Dermot Reynolds, Managing Director, NewDatum, a leading virtualization consultancy and reseller in the United Kingdom. “This makes it easier for our customers to set-up virtual infrastructure and disaster recovery solutions and does so at a fraction of the cost."

About Virtual Iron Software, Inc.
Virtual Iron provides enterprise-class software for server virtualization and virtual infrastructure management at one-fifth the cost of comparable alternatives. Its solutions enable companies to dramatically reduce the complexity and cost of managing and operating their data center. Virtual Iron delivers advanced virtualization capabilities that exploit industry standards, open source economics and built-in hardware-assisted acceleration. It is available for free download at http://www.virtualiron.com/free. Organizations use Virtual Iron for server consolidation, rapid provisioning, business continuity, capacity management and policy-based automation to deliver significant improvements in utilization, manageability and agility. The company is privately held and based in Lowell, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.virtualiron.com or email info@virtualiron.com.

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