Intel Changes General Perception About Virtualization
Shows hardware plays a vital role to deliver mainstream experience

Intel is increasingly becoming a driving force, not only in processors space but also in virtualization space. In recent times, the management tools and solution breadth differentiate virtualization, not just the ability to virtualize. As Intel has extended its chipsets and network adapters with Intel virtualization technology for devices and connectivity, there has been a sea change in hardware platforms that enable virtualization. Intel changed the general perception about virtualization that it is a software domain. Intel has been releasing several hardware components that are extended for delivering the platforms and enhancing deployable solutions.

Virtualization has been there for decades on mainframes, but the dynamics are changing now with the availability of software and hardware that enhance the software and make implementation easy and robust for mainstream computing.

Application instances on a single server eliminate redundancies, increase performance, reduce maintenance costs, and reduce the cost, time and risks associated with application upgrades. By allowing applications to share the same virtualized infrastructure, enterprises can realize hardware utilization rates approaching 100 percent instead of the typical 15 percent on a standalone machine.

Virtualization is not a single feature or technology, but a solution. Intel follows a bigger picture approach while delivering products for this segment. After leading the introduction of Virtualization Technology hardware assists in mainstream processors in 2005, Intel has worked with a large ecosystem of software vendors to support/enable the capability for a robust solution.

With Core Micro-architecture and now a year old Intel Quad-Core processing capability, IT can leverage the industries best energy efficient computing for virtualization. As consolidation and workloads on a single physical server increase, better performance per watt could deliver better results both in terms of consolidation and per VM performance and at lesser power consumption. Currently the 51xx, 53xx, 54xx, 73xx, processor families are all based on Core Micro-architecture, which means for IT focused on VM mobility and agility, this allows easy VM mobility across these different classes of servers. Introduction of Intel VT FlexMigration earlier this year acknowledges the emerging usage model of VM mobility and allows any VMM vendor to develop solutions that will allow future generation of processors to be pooled with older generation of servers (with Core Micro-architecture). This provides better invest protection for IT.

Further the holistic platform centric approach to virtualization hardware assists for greater performance and/or efficiency can also be seen in Intel's approach to virtualization. Intel VT FlexPriority capability (in the processor) most recently announced provides performance enhancing hardware assists for interrupt virtualization. Intel VT for directed I/O is a chipset centric capability that enables hardware assists for I/O virtualization that can enhance reliability and security through device isolation and I/O performance through direct assignment.

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