Xkoto, the database virtualizer, fielded a Gridscale for Microsoft SQL Server virtualization product today that it says improves application performance, scalability and reliability in SQL Server environments.

The active-active widgetry virtualizes the database infrastructure and distributes application loads horizontally across multiple instances of SQL Server.

Xkoto says that means better reliability and performance than more costly and complex legacy clustering solutions with their shared storage, partitioning and mirroring.

It's supposed to eliminate planned and unplanned outages and rapidly scale application loads across SQL Servers. Users should be able to implement cost-effective disaster recovery solutions.

It promises hardware and software updates won't impact system performance or uptime.

The start-up got Gartner to say that "database virtualization is emerging as a viable alternative to traditional clustering, providing near continuous application availability, seamless failover for unscheduled server downtime, and non-disruptive capacity expansion, and horizontal scaling on reads."

Xkoto said testing at one of Microsoft's technology centers showed near-linear scalability for read-intensive workloads, such as those used for online commerce applications. Gridscale reportedly also got high marks on availability tests that simulated hardware failures, network outages and site-wide disaster.

Unlike traditional clustering, which relies on multiple databases tied to shared storage, Gridscale uses a shared-nothing architecture with a dynamic number of database servers for continuous availability. Each database server operates independently of the others, maintaining its own copy of the database. The Gridscale server appears as a single fully functional database to all applications, which are unaware that any one of several database servers may be fulfilling their requests.

Gridscale for SQL Server initially supports ODBC, JDBC and .NET connectivity.

Besides SQL Server, xkoto added functionality for DB2 in its latest 4.1 version of Gridscale, making it easier to migrate DB2 databases between server and operating platforms and synchronize databases for disaster recovery.

The new widgetry supports:

mixed operating systems and database versions in the same virtualized database pool, allowing IT to migrate between hardware, operating systems and database versions without downtime

synchronous and asynchronous database replication, guaranteeing zero data loss for remote databases

XA transactions and using Gridscale as a federated data source

third-party enterprise applications

Cloud Computing on Wall Street Conference & Expo Announced
SYS-CON Events announced today that the Cloud Computing on Wall Street Conference & Expo will take place on March 22-24, 2009, in New York City. The event is expected to attract over 1,000 decision makers, developers, architects, IT managers, and software professionals of every stripe who will be converging in New York City to attend this comprehensive meeting on Cloud Computing on Wall Street.

The future model for providing IT infrastructure and services in large organizations is what many today are calling "Cloud Computing" - a concept popularized by Amazon through its web services efforts. Financial analysts for example reckon that by 2011 the volume of Cloud Computing market opportunity will amount to $160BN, including $95N in business and productivity apps (e-mail, office, CRM, etc.) and $65BN in online advertising.

Any chief information officer concerned with computer system reliability and application availability in the competitive financial markets is thinking one of two things: either make failure impossible, or make recovery very fast. Thanks to virtualization, the trend is shifting toward fast recovery. Wall Street has a vested interest in eradicating downtime and achieving near-perfect uptime - a.k.a. "high-availability" (HA).

The Cloud Computing on Wall Street Conference & Expo is the leading event covering the booming market of Cloud Computing for the financial markets, with experts on financial, high-performance computing, service management, web-scale computing, and cloud standards. The conference will contain multiple sessions on how to improve application efficiency and lower costs by leveraging network and computing resources. Cloud Computing will help you take your applications and platforms to the next level.

Forrester Research analyst James Staten calls cloud computing "classic disruptive innovation where the mainstream dismisses the product and small companies have time to create a real differentiated value." But there are so many offerings just now that what infrastructure architects are looking for above all is a set of organizing principles they can use to guide them in choosing between them all.

Cloud Computing has many interpreters just now - and many interpretations. One thing is certain: it is the most dynamic new metaphor to hit enterprise computing since the creation of the "Web" by Tim Berners-Lee.

Accordingly SYS-CON Media & Events is continuing its market-leading practice of launching full-blown conferences ahead of anyone else by launching its Cloud Computing Expo, to be held March 22-24, 2009 in New York City.

Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities
Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities Offered on a First-Come First-Served Basis. To inquire about sponsorship and exhibit opportunities please contact Carmen Gonzalez at 201-802-3021 or by email at events(at)sys-con.com. Currently, a limited number of sponsorship and exhibition packages with multiple sponsorship discounts are available.