CIO Reality Check: Linux and Virtualization

In a new series, "CIO Reality Check," we're talking to CIOs about today's most important IT decisions. We set out to find and speak to CIOs from a variety of industries to gain their perspective on the topic of Linux and open source virtualization.

By Jim Romeo, LinuxWorld.com, 07/31/08

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We spoke to Clyde Williams, Infrastructure Systems Manager for Southeast Alabama Medical Center –a hospital located in Dothan, Alabama; Walt Cornelison, Director of Information Technology for Tropitone Furniture – a manufacturer or high-end outdoor furniture located in Irvine, California; Jason Ford, CTO of BlackMesh Hosting and Solution – a managed hosting and managed services firm located in Herndon, Virginia; Keith Parnell, CIO of Stratum Marketing - a marketing communications agency in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Here’s how our conversation went:

LinuxWorld.com: Do you think of virtualization as a "product" or a “feature"? How seriously are you looking at KVM and Hyper-V?

Clyde Williams, Infrastructure Systems Manager for Southeast Alabama Medical Center: Interesting question, because I feel like virtualization is currently transitioning from product to feature as we speak. As long time VMware customers, while we do keep abreast of alternatives, we're not looking too seriously at any.

Walt Cornelison, Director of Information Technology for Tropitone Furniture: Mainly as a product. Not considering KVM or Hyper-V, as they are early in product life at enterprise level and are not clearly defined as to differentiation with VM products we now use. We use so much of it right now - the pre-Hyper V virtual machines and appliances - that I haven't seen enough in there to justify us moving in that direction.

Jason Ford, CTO of BlackMesh Hosting and Solutions: Definitely a product. Even though virtual services are purely logical, the set of requirements and outcomes from setting up virtual environments is very physical. Virtualization should be considered as a standalone product and not a feature with another operating system. Those systems created by a virtual product run and produce the same results as a physical server.

Keith Parnell, CIO, Stratum Marketing: To our needs, hardware virtualization is a product. Virtualization will become as much an OEM-produced product as single-partition hardware in days past. Considering virtualization as a feature from a small business standpoint, rings of extra or excess costs against limited budgets.

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