VMLogix has been involved in the virtual lab automation business for a while now and has recently expanded its portfolio with StageManager. What does the company have planned for 2009? If you want to find out about virtual machine management solutions such as lab automation, a great source of information is Sameer Dholakia, CEO of VMLogix. The company has been creating multivendor lab automation products for the test, training, and demo market for years. And lucky for me, I was able to catch up with Sameer just before the holiday season to find out where his company has been and where it plans on going in 2009.Q: How has the past year been for VMLogix? A: VMLogix has had a fantastic year in terms of growth both in the number of customers and in visibility and industry recognition for our products and solutions. We also announced the development of a second product, VMLogix StageManager, at VMworld earlier this year, and we are preparing for some exciting announcements in the first half of 2009 that should garner a lot of attention. Q: How does VMLogix fit within the virtualization ecosystem? A: With the commoditization of the hypervisor, the value-add is proving to be from virtualization management applications. VMLogix is well-positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. We provide virtual machine management solutions for the IT pre-production (software development, testing, training, demo, support, and staging) environments. Our flagship product, VMLogix LabManager, is a virtual lab automation solution that has carved a unique position in the market — it is the only VLA solution equipped with advanced automation capabilities and that supports all leading hypervisors including those from Citrix, Microsoft, and VMware. Q: How do you compare with other virtual lab automation solutions in the market? A: VMLogix is recognized as a best-of-breed solution in the virtual lab automation market. On almost all head-to-head evaluations, we win against our competitors. Additionally, VMLogix is committed to providing vendor-agnostic solutions that work with leading virtualization platforms and pre-production tools. The industry has recognized VMLogix LabManager with the following awards: 2008 Testers Choice Winner (by Software Test and Performance) and the 2008 ServerWatch.com Product Excellence Award. Q: What are the primary reasons why people look for Virtual Lab Automation solutions?A: VLA solutions like VMLogix LabManager help reduce IT costs, improve software quality, and accelerate software time to market. If you are an organization involved in software development and/or testing (e.g., if you are an ISV or enterprise IT organization), VLA solutions can help leverage virtualization to consolidate lab infrastructure and automate build and test processes so that software can be delivered more quickly, cost-effectively, and reliably. Along with cost reduction, VLA solutions can also help users dramatically improve their value and productivity in the software engineering lifecycle. VMLogix LabManager also integrates with leading ALM tools from IBM and HP.Q: How are customers adopting VLA?A: VMLogix has seen a strong growth rate in our number of customers over the course of the past year, and many of them have already seen a strong ROI. We have customers using VLA solutions in the traditional development/test environments and others using it in related areas, such as part of their training lab infrastructure. VMLogix LabManager has also been adopted by customers using a variety of hypervisor platforms, with Citrix and VMware being the most popular. Q: How easy is it to get started with VMLogix LabManager?A: It is extremely easy to download a trial version from our site and set up VMLogix LabManager. You can read about getting started here. You can also request a free evaluation of our software on our site at www.vmlogix.com.Q: What do you see in 2009? A: In 2009, we expect the adoption of virtualization to continue and grow along with the commoditization of the hypervisor. This will further re-enforce the need for virtual machine management solutions for customers to drive value from a virtualized environment. We also expect to see synergies between the two key IT trends today: virtualization and utility-based cloud computing. Software Development