Is VMware feeling the heat?

While the rest of the country swelters in the July heat, InfoWorld’s Test Center reviewers are keeping cool in their air-conditioned labs and banging on some high-profile products. Senior Contributing Editor Paul Venezia leads off with his in-depth look at XenEnterprise and Virtual Iron Enterprise, two hard-charging contenders in the server virtualization derby.

In a field where VMware holds a commanding position thanks to nearly ten years of market experience, competition is finally heating up. “Both Xen and Virtual Iron have a lot of catching up to do,” Venezia notes. “But they are maturing rapidly, and both now offer credible alternatives to VMware Infrastructure 3.”

“Maturing rapidly” may be an understatement. Virtualization software today has become a moving target. When Venezia started looking at Virtual Iron Enterprise Edition, he was working on version 3.5. By the time he finished a few months later, he was reviewing version 3.7.1. And although XenEnterprise didn’t pepper Venezia with constant revisions, the company is readying a major upgrade for later this year. “When I review these two products next year,” Venezia says, “I expect both will be completely different.”

The lesson for VMware is simple: Better not slow down, because you’re not the only game in town anymore.

On the other hand, based on recent press coverage, it might seem that Apple is the only game in town in the mobile phone category. It’s not, of course. We know, however, that many of you are hankering for a real-world review of the iPhone before plunking down $500, and we’ve got one from chief technologist Tom Yager. He’s been huddling over his shiny new device since its release on June 29. I won’t play spoiler here; let’s just say that he’s of two minds: He loves it … and he hates it. For the skinny from the fickle Mr. Y, check out the full review Tuesday at infoworld.com. Until tomorrow, you can stay current on all things Apple at Yager’s Enterprise Mac weblog and check out what our storage guru, Mario Apicella, has to say about the iPhone in his Storage Insider blog.

Despite considerable enthusiasm for Steve Jobs’ latest, not all iPhone press has been glowing, as Ephraim Schwartz noted last week in Reality Check. Schwartz took his criticism further than most; he had the audacity to suggest that “as an enterprise solution, the iPhone appears to be a non-starter.” You can imagine the reader response to that one — brickbats from the Apple faithful and scattered huzzahs from the skeptics. If you have an opinion, or just want to let off some steam, come add your voice to the cacophony. The more, the merrier.

One final note … Regular site visitors have probably figured out that we revel in interactivity on Infoworld.com. It’s the best way for our editors to gauge what our readers want. Apparently someone else appreciates our community-building efforts as well: last Friday, we learned we had won seven Tabbie Awards from TABPI (Trade, Association and Business Publications International), including a Gold for best business-to-business Website. According to the TAPBI site, the judges were swayed by the site’s “great interactivity,” calling it “highly intuitive, easy to navigate … content spot-on for its market. Absolute perfection.” We’re honored to have won this honor. We can say, quite literally, that we couldn’t have done it without you.