Market researcher Gartner Inc. has pegged virtualization as the biggest trend through 2012.
Virtualization is popular among companies that sell electronics and software that go into storage networks.
It’s tech speak for the ability to “virtually” combine servers and other data storage computers into what appears to be a single source.
Virtualization software helps multiple sources of data, often under different operating systems, appear as a single source, saving space and power.
Several local companies are making pushes into virtualization, including Aliso Viejo’s QLogic Corp., Costa Mesa’s Emulex Corp. and Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc., among others.
Quest Chief Executive Vinny Smith called virtualization software “the next great frontier in information technology.”
“Virtualization will transform how information technology is managed, what is bought, how it is deployed, how companies plan and how they are charged,” Gartner’s Philip Dawson said. “Virtualization is creating a new wave of competition among infrastructure vendors that will result in considerable market disruption and consolidation over the next few years.”
|
|
Emulex circuit board: company dependent on financial sector |
Virtualization already is occurring on two fronts: storage and desktop PCs.
On PCs, virtualization allows users to access their desktops from any computer on a network.
Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner estimates that 4 million virtual servers will be installed in desktop PCs by 2009.
And the number of virtualized PCs is expected to grow from less than 5 million in 2007 to 660 million in 2011.
“Virtualization creates a fork in the road for operating systems,” said Gartner analyst Thomas Bittman. “The days of the monolithic, general-purpose operating system will soon be over.”
Upbeat on QLogic
QLogic might weather the tech downturn a bit better than its top local rival, Emulex, according to one analyst.
Both make electronics that go into data storage networks. Customers include networking gear makers and the top manufacturers of servers used by corporations.
It comes down to Emulex’s customers, said Kaushik Roy, senior datacenter analyst at Pacific Growth Equities LLC in San Francisco.
Emulex’s top customers, IBM Corp. and EMC Corp., sell to a lot of financial services companies, such as banks, stock brokerages and insurance companies.
Those businesses have been hit hard by the slowing economy and the nationwide mortgage meltdown and likely won’t be spending as much on their own storage networks.
“QLogic has little exposure to U.S. financial services companies and thus is not impacted significantly by the weakness at large investment banks and broker/dealers,” Roy said in a research note. “Emulex’s exposure to the financial services industry is higher than QLogic’s.”
QLogic said it expects March quarter revenue of $147 million to $151 million. Analysts are looking for $149.5 million in sales.
“We estimate that QLogic could report revenue at the high end of guidance,” Roy said.
For Emulex, he expects the company to meet its March quarter targets. He also expects Emulex to lower its guidance for the June quarter.
Roy is forecasting revenue to come in below Wall Street’s expected $133 million for the June quarter.
Both Emulex and QLogic saw downgrades from analysts in the past week.
Roy has them both rated as “neutral.”
Tech Art
The Beall Center for Art and Technology at the University of California, Irvine is set to present an exhibit that mixes art with real time data, photos and streaming video from the Internet.
How very meta.
The exhibit, called “Live,” shows the work of seven artists who incorporated Internet-sourced materials into their sculptures and installations.
The work includes live footage from C-Span, Web sites with Iraqi war casualties, social networking sites and video surveillance.
The exhibit is on display through June 7 at the Beall Center, which is part of UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts.
The center was named for Donald R. Beall, who retired as chief executive of Rockwell International Corp. in 1998.
He’s had a big role in supporting the companies that spun out of Rockwell during the years, including Newport Beach’s Conexant Systems Inc., Mindspeed Technologies Inc., Jazz Semiconductor Inc. and Woburn, Mass.-based Skyworks Solutions Inc., which has local operations in Irvine.
