The formation of the Open Virtualization Alliance thanks to the brainstorming of Red Hat, IBM, Intel and HP has led to a number of questions about their agenda and just what they intend to do in the virtualization space. While some questions – like who will be the fifth member of their governing board – have yet to be answered, others, like which type of virtualization they will support, are obvious.
KVM or “kernel-based virtualization machines” are an integral part of the new OVA approach, and place them in direct opposition to current providers like VMware or Citrix. OVA plans to drive adoption of KVM in the marketplace and believes that it can complete with options like Xen and ESX, being a hypervisor-powered, full virtualization technology itself.
But questions still remain about KVM and how it stacks up compared to other technologies. It is backed up by some of the best in the business, but how does it perform? So far, it seems that the answer to that is “quite well”.
KVM’s performance has so far been shown to operate extremely well as an already-optimized technology that needs little in the way of tweaking to be worth its weight, even right off the bat. The SPICE protocol also gives KVM an edge, allowing for superior remote connectivity than many other options on the market.
KVM options also offer a high level of security thanks to SELinux, and higher scalability than any other virtual technology current on the market. Of course, cost is the bottom line for any virtual solution, and early estimates place KVM as potentially 80% more cost effective than other solutions.
While OVA’s future is yet to be determined, their current support of KVM appears to be right on the mark.
Related News:
