Making virtualisation a reality

To get the lowdown on virtualiation trends at the world’s fourth largest vendor, Business Management catches up with Dr Joseph Reger, CTO of Fujitsu Technology Solutions GMBH.

Fujitsu is a pioneer in virtualisation. What is the company's virtualisation strategy?
Joseph Reger. We view virtualisation as a key technology. Our strategy for the IT infrastructure is based largely on virtualisation as an enabler. We have built a global infrastructure portfolio of products, services and alternative delivery models (such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service, IaaS) called Dynamic Infrastructures, based on virtualisation as the enabler of the dynamic aspects of the data centre. The competitiveness of the new, cloud like, offerings such as IaaS, depends on our ability to utilise the latest virtualisation technologies in novel ways. Fujitsu is a staunch supporter of standardization efforts in virtualisation. We believe that virtualisation will penetrate all current and future IT stacks. We do our own development but also support open source efforts and partner with the key players in the industry to advance the cause of virtualisation.

What trends and opportunities does Fujitsu see in the future for virtualisation and what will be the main challenges?
JR. Virtualisation will become more significant, even though the technology might become less visible as it penetrates all levels of all stacks. We will be dealing with solutions (such as resource orchestration and automation) based on virtualisation technologies, rather than with the technologies themselves. The main challenge will be the unification of all virtualisation technologies (e.g. server, storage and networking virtualisation) and their concerted management. Single console management and automatic virtualisation of all components will be an attractive opportunity and an important lever to increase overall efficiency. Needless to say, it will be the major technical challenge.

Fujitsu recently announced its IaaS for server offering. What are the underlying technologies, and how does this offering help customers?
JR. As I said, the most important enabler is virtualisation. We use Fujitsu's own technologies (e.g. server and storage technologies, system software) wherever we can and partner to offer the technology components that we do not have internally (e.g. networking and some storage and software technologies). We deeply integrate all components used to make customer experience a smooth one. For the success of all IaaS offerings, it is mandatory that they are well integrated and provide a simple interface for provisioning, management, billing and so on. But it is equally important that they provide highest levels of utilisation of the infrastructure. This objective can only be achieved if all components are part of a system-wide resource orchestration, provisioning and management scheme. With that approach, all components are more tightly integrated and provide highest levels of efficiency. If we add the economies of scale we are building in our global organisation, this offering will be difficult to match by Individual customer installations. Besides, Fujitsu will be offering application and business services on top of its IaaA offerings, providing total IT stacks for its customers. Since these layers are integrated by design, the total offering will be very attractive.

Is virtualisation a direct enabler for cloud computing?
JR. Virtualisation is definitely one of the two most important direct technology enablers, the other one is the internet (and its associated technologies). The success of cloud computing hinges on our ability to share the underlying components, such as infrastructure. Sharing is essential for cloud computing to become a successful business model. The easiest, most effective way to accomplish sharing is by virtualisation; in particular by virtual machine technology. I expect that virtualisation in general will continue to play a prominent role in enabling sharing. Virtual machine technology as we know it today may give way to other, such as application container-based solutions. These are, however, by nature, virtualisation technologies, too. Thus I am very confident that virtualisation will retain its role as one of the main engines of cloud computing.

Dr Joseph Reger, CTO of Fujitsu Technology Solutions GMBH, is responsible for understanding and predicting IT trends that will benefit customers most, as well as for their implementation in the company's strategy. A renowned industry expert, Reger has steered the company and customers in real-life implementations of dynamic IT and mobility topics.