The Server Virtualization Battle

Citrix's Xen won't cede to VMware or Hyper-V

It seems like only yesterday when I was wondering about whether the price war in the hypervisor market should be worrying VMware. Wait, it was yesterday. Today I read that Citrix won't concede in the price war or on the technology.

From the TechTarget web site:

In December 2006, two startups, XenSource Inc. (now owned by Citrix) and Virtual Iron Software Inc., kicked off a virtualization price war, offering virtualization for as little as one-sixth the cost of VMware. Last fall with the entrance of Oracle Corp., Novell Inc., Red Hat Inc. and others into the battle, the price competition intensified, and then this spring, rivalry flared when Citrix cut prices again and initiated flat pricing for servers with up to four sockets. Citrix's efforts have met some success as well. Now all the players have geared up for Microsoft's August 2008 launch of Hyper-V, which is extremely low cost at the price of $28 per server. Citrix has a special mission in this new lanscape. Sandwiched in between feature-rich VMware and lower-cost Hyper-V, Citrix's Xen has the daunting task of remaining price-competitive yet fully featured enough to compete.

Citrix's Xen won't cede to VMware or Hyper-V

Yesterday was about VMware not lowering prices because they "…have the right product packages with prices that allow the customer to do whatever it is they need to do with our technology…".

Today is about how "…Citrix may ultimately focus on the desktop virtualization. First, Microsoft hasn't targeted its virtualization efforts to virtual desktops, leaving an opportunity for others to gain advantage."

And that Citrix "…has an open storage interface that integrates innovations from storage vendors into the hypervisor with plug-in drivers."

The rest of the article combines some market-speak with lots of assertions about feature comparisons between Citrix XenSource, VMware and even Microsoft Hyper-V (though to be fair, they state clearly that since Hyper-V isn't shipping feature comparisons are invalid at this time). Lots of on-the-one-hand vs. on-the-other-hand comparisons.

Actually comparing these products and either publishing the results for all to see or sharing them privately with our vendor clients is what my company does best. VMware: hear those footsteps behind you? Novell: wonder why you're not in the top tier? Virtual Iron: the reviewers like you, but don't you need help getting some real market share? Microsoft: we know you're going to deliver something functional eventually; wouldn't it be good to use have some support for your product claims and debunk the critics?

Why don't you give me a call?