The Future of Virtualization
Steve Hand
Citrix Systems R&D
University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory
Ancient and Not-So-Ancient History
40 years ago: IBM invent first VMM
Industrially driven so focus on pragmatism Consolidate N single user CMS on big iron Useful for compatibility / legacy
10 years ago: VMware founded:
5 years ago: Xen & Paravirtualization
OS mods for bare metal performance Open Source => Free (beer, speech)
Virtualization for commodity (x86) machines Some binary translation/rewriting reqd Performance issues, but still compelling
Virtualization today…
Super duper hot topic
75%+ of companies ‘aware/positive’ Forecasts of US $2bn in 2009
Primary use still consolidation…
Average server use only 10% (?) Relatively small OS size Multi-application conflcits
… but several new use-cases
(TLAs) VDI, AMT, HA, DR…
Virtualization tomorrow
[Disclaimer: opinion/guesswork] Three killer apps
Practical usable security
Virtual Private Machines
Infinite undo
Sum-over-histories
Access anything, anywhere
There and back again
Virtualization 3.0?
Add small thin layer under hypervisor…