Venturing into the virtual world

Today I’m emceeing our fifth Virtualization Forum here in San Francisco. Executive Editor Doug Dineley has developed a killer lineup of adopters, industry players, and thought leaders. As you read this, we’re having a rocking good time trading insights and munching sushi.

Those who can’t attend in person can still receive a full infusion of virtualization know-how via our three-part special report. Senior Contributing Editor Paul Venezia drills deep into VMware Infrastructure 3, delivering the most authoritative review of the latest versions of ESX Server 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5 you’ll find anywhere. Then contributor Matt Prigge walks you through a hypothetical deployment of server virtualization that touches on all the big issues. Last but not least, check out the obligatory VMware financial analysis: How did 2007’s hottest IPO manage to lose 30 percent of its value last week?

Well, we live in a crazy world rattled by recession jitters. In fact, virtualization and its ability to maximize resource utilization provide a great way to weather tough times. But try explaining that to Wall Street.

The Industry Standard rides again

No one, it seems, has sufficient visibility. That’s why we need the wisdom of the crowd. InfoWorld’s latest sister publication is The Industry Standard, a brand-new Web venture devoted to predictive markets. Contributing Editor Bill Snyder has the backstory on how the new publication was conceived, along with an overview of how predictive markets have already taken hold in business.

One of the site’s first community predictions addresses Microsoft’s play for Yahoo last week. We’ll leave it to The Standard to determine the odds. According to Executive Editor Galen Gruman, one great potential benefit to Microsoft will be vastly increased ability to deliver business applications over the Web. I’m willing to bet on that one.