Skytap Blog

Eight Steps to a Virtualized Test Environment

Better Software Conference and Expo, The Venetian, Las Vegas, Nevada

Our CTO, John Janakiraman, is delivering a session tomorrow on the ‘Eight Steps to a Virtualized Test Environment’. If you are at the conference, be sure to attend - it’s session W21 at 2.45pm.

Application Development and Eco-Efficient IT

There’s been a lot of hype around the need for ‘Green IT’ and how computing usage affects the environment. The 451 Group published an excellent report summarizing how IT impacts the environment and actually shows that IT’s greenhouse-gas contributions are relatively small when compared with other sources. However, its authors firmly believe that IT should assert its role as a positive force for change and embrace innovative technologies to improve energy efficiency across the enterprise.

According to VMware, there are between 2 and 5 application development servers for every production server deployed. Implementing a cloud-based virtual lab automation solution can dramatically reduce this ratio and improve energy efficiency and the environmental costs of manufacturing and disposing of servers. The combination of virtualization and a cloud-based service improves the situation in a number of ways:

• Using virtualization improves server utilization and enables multiple server workloads to be consolidated onto a single machine. Voke, an analyst firm, estimates organizations can see 25-50% reduction in servers from using virtualization in a lab environment and a similar drop in energy consumption.
• Using a cloud computing service rather than an in-house virtual lab can improve energy efficiency even further. Services such as Skytap Virtual Lab are based in datacenters where processing, storage and cooling systems are optimized for energy efficiency. These datacenters are usually much more efficient than server labs in a typical organization.
• Finally, cloud computing can improve server utilization by enabling multiple organizations to share resources, so when an organization isn’t using IT infrastructure, it is released back to the pool so another organization can utilize it. This not only increases energy efficiency, but also ensures organizations can easily handle peak demand for server capacity and no longer need underutilized ‘overflow’ servers on hand.

We’re sure there will be lots more hype around ‘Green IT’. However, it’s clear to us that the shift to virtualization and cloud computing can only improve energy efficiency and IT’s impact on the environment. Virtual lab automation is a great way for application development and test teams to move in this direction.
-Ian

VMware prepares to enter the cloud computing market

Virtualization.info posted an article today showing the 5 stages of virtualization adoption predicted by VMware. They call out Skytap and Desktone as two leading companies that are already delivering stage 5 capabilities

-Ian

On-Site vs. Cloud Blog Discussion

Dan Kusnetzky from ZDNet recently posted an article on his blog listing various vendors that provide test lab and IT prototyping functionality. It’s an interesting debate and we’re obviously big advocates of using a cloud-based service for a number of reasons:

- No on-site management of hardware

- Dramtically reduced administrative overhead

- It’s more cost effective due to economies of scale and utility billing (pay only for what you use)

- The risk of trying a cloud-based service is much lower than committing to a specific vendor and investing in large quantities of hardware and lab equipment

Of course, it’s early in the adoption curve. Salesforce.com experienced some initial questioning of it’s Software-as-a-Service model when it first launched, but as customers became comfortable with the SaaS approach, it quickly became the preferred option to on-site solutions. We expect a very similar adoption curve with cloud computing services!

-Ian

Skytap featured in ‘Agile Crosses the Chasm at STAREAST 2008′ video

Skytap’s Steve Brodie is featured in ‘Agile Crosses the Chasm at STAREAST 2008′ video

Check it out here.

Virtual Lab - May ‘Limited Availability’ Release Now Live!

Today we upgraded our production environment to the May ‘Limited Availability’ Release! We have made broad improvements across our product to make it easier, more reliable, more secure and even faster to use.

Here’s a list of enhancements included in the May Release:

Virtual Machines
1. CD Loader: Load a CD into your Virtual Machines in order to easily install software.

Dashboard
1. Quotas: Quotas for your account can now be viewed directly from the Dashboard, along with current usage information.
a. Storage Quota: Depicts current storage usage, including Assets and Configurations.
b. CPU Cores: Depicts number of running CPU cores, which can be calculated by the sum of CPU cores used by all of your running Virtual Machines.

The Lab
1. List/Tiles Views: Toggle between a list of your running Configurations and a tile view in order to more easily find the Configuration you’re looking for.
2. Suspend/Delete/Shut Down from Lab page: Perform common operations on your Configurations without leaving the Lab page.

Assets
1. Easier to find: Assets are now a top-level tab in Virtual Lab, making them easier to find.
2. Upload in the background: The Asset Uploader now opens in a new window, enabling you to upload large files while working on other tasks.

Library
1. Master/Details View: The Library has been completely redesigned. It now features a master/details view to let you easily drill down into our Configuration Library and view details of each Configuration without leaving the main Library area.
2. Configuration Filtering: Filter through Configurations by Favorites, Project Configurations and Private Configurations, along with Language and Vendor in order to find what you’re looking for even faster.
3. Explore Virtual Machines: Find a specific Virtual Machine you’re looking for, instead of wading through our list of multi-machine Configurations.

Interactive Help
1. Overview: Interactive Help (launched from the Dashboard) provides you with an intuitive, easy-to-understand tool to help you learn how to accomplish common tasks across Virtual Lab without having to read documentation.
2. Upload an Asset: Learn how to easily upload assets and use them from your Virtual Machines.
3. Start and Snapshot a Configuration: Learn how to create a new Configuration of Virtual Machines, add new machines to the Configuration, and Snapshot your changes so that you and your coworkers can use it later.
4. Published Services: Learn how to add a Published Service to your Virtual Machines so that you can easily access them via HTTP, RDP or any other TCP/IP protocol.

Current Issues & Limitations
• Do not run DHCP or DNS services in your configurations as this will conflict with the Virtual Lab software.
• Some versions of Windows 2003 may experience problems connecting to the Skytap Asset Browser from the Desktop link. Please disable enhanced security or install an alternate browser and browse directly in order to use this feature.

We hope you enjoy the release - let us know what you think!

AaronB (Virtual Lab Program Manager)

STAREAST

We just got back from STAREAST in Orlando and had a great experience. We met a huge number of experienced QA and IT professionals and got lots of interest in our Virtual Lab service. We spent most of our time at the demo stations giving attendees a firsthand view of how it works.

Here are some of our key takeaways from the show:

- Lots of attendees were experimenting with VMware ESX Server, but running into issues with VM sprawl and manageability

- Most folks we spoke to don’t want to be in the hardware business and it often takes quite a bit of time (1-2 days or more) for IT operations to provision a lab

- Many attendees understood the potential of virtualization but have not fully implemented a virtual lab capabilities into their QA process

If you were at the show and want to get a free trial, let us know - you can contact us by clicking here. We’re getting continual feedback from customers on how to improve the service and would love to hear from you.

Finally, we held a drawing for a Ninendo Wii at the show and the winner was.. Gregg Yows from Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency in Austix, TX.

Congratulations Gregg!

-Ian

Skytap Virtual Lab Nominated for “Best Virtual Lab Automation”

We just got nominated for ‘Best Virtual Lab Automation’ solution for the SYS-CON’s Virtualization Journal Virtualization Readers’ Choice Awards. SYS-CON’s Readers’ Choice Awards, also known as the “Oscars of the Software Industry” has been one of the most prestigious industry award programs for more than a decade. This year’s virtualization awards will be given in 17 categories and award-winning products and services will be selected by Virtualization Journal readers.

If you are a fan of Skytap Virtual Lab you will be able to vote from June 23 - November 15, 2008 on the Virtualization Journal’s website.

Tips for Renaming a Company

Today we renamed the company from illumita to Skytap. We made the
decision in December to rename the company because customers couldn’t
pronounce or remember illumita. They’d also often get it confused with
illuminati (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati) – not exactly what we were after. So off we went in search of a new name – here’s a few tips based on our experience:

1. Get advice. Talk to other local companies
   that have been through a naming exercise. I spoke to the folks at Avvo
   and Global Scholar to understand what’s involved. Usually anyone who’s
   done it before will tell you it’s a frustrating experience. Be prepared
   for some ups and downs and don’t give up when it gets hard!
2. Understand your objective criteria.
   Everyone has an opinion and it’s almost impossible to get a unanimous
   vote on a name. Put together your objective criteria to test names
   against. Here’s the criteria we used (based on advice from others):
   1. Available (at a reasonable cost)
   2. Memorable (it needs to be easy to remember the name, what we stand for and the URL)
   3. Ownable (we can trademark it in the US and potentially globally)
   4. Fits our what our company stands for (i.e. our brand attributes):
      1. Simple / easy to use / accessible
      2. Innovative
      3. Fluid dynamic
      4. Trustworthy
      5. Likeable
   5. Differentiated (from our competition)
   6. Searchable (obvious spelling and easy to find using Google)
   7. Phone test (can you image saying this name to someone at a party or answering the phone with the name?)
3. Be creative.
   Brainstorm as many names as possible and ask creative people you know
   to get involved. You can try online generators
   (http://www.lightsphere.com/dev/web20.html), but the best names usually
   come from the imagination and creativity, not from generators. If
   you’re not super creative and don’t have creative colleagues, try
   hiring some creative types to help you out.
4. Get a good domain broker.
   We used sedo to help us find out if domain names were available –
   almost all are taken and it can take days for domain owners to respond.
   Expect to pay anywhere from $5K to $25K to a reasonable name. We were
   lucky – we picked our name up for $1100 from an auction on namejet.com
5. Do extensive customer testing.
   You’d be amazed how people have different perceptions and mental
   schemas about names. We ruled our several names because of strongly
   negative perceptions we’d never have discovered without testing.
6. Don’t forget a trademark search.
   Finally, don’t forget to run a trademark search on your name. You can
   get a lawyer to do it for $1500 or less, or do it yourself at
   http://www.uspto.gov/

If you are about to embark on a renaming exercise, good luck! Hopefully this will point you in the right direction

-Ian

Skytap Announcement

April 10th is an exciting day for the Skytap team. Today, we’ve done 3 things:

1. We’ve officially launched and rebranded the company, coming out of “stealth” as a cloud-based virtualization solution provider;
2. We’ve announced availability for our first product – Skytap Virtual Lab; and
3. We’ve launched our new website so folks can learn about what we have been doing.

The last few weeks have been busy for us. Not only have we been briefing a number of analysts and press, but we have also ramped up our interaction with a broader set of customers and have seen our enthusiastic beta users transition into paying customers. As we all know, leads and prospects always ooh and ahh about great technology but the rubber doesn’t meet the road until they are actually willing to part with cash to pay for the solution. Given how many of our beta customers are finding real value in our solution, I can’t help but be excited about both our very cool technology and the opportunity to build a great cloud-based virtualization business.

There is a lot of hype around cloud computing and even the analysts are trying to figure out which way the wind will blow next. Here at Skytap we are initially focusing on delivering not only cloud-based compute power, but more importantly a powerful on-demand application for the application development and test community. We’ve found that our customers have a few key characteristics: (1) they are smart – we like smart customers; (2) they are early adopters of technology; (3) they constantly try to be more efficient and do more with less: (4) they get virtualization; (5) they need machines in many configurations for projects and other transient needs; (6) they constantly make trade-offs between application quality and what they can achieve with the resources they have. Given customer feedback so far, we feel there is a strong demand for a ‘Virtual Lab as a Service’ offering. Go ahead and check out some of our online demo material and read about how we help development and test teams ship better products faster. What we are doing is very unique and we don’t think you’ve seen anything quite like it before. We’d love your feedback to help us deliver a better product – you can reach me at sroza@skytap.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Let me know what you think!

Scott