The future of virtualization is here now – get ready

 

A standing-room only crowd turned out to hear about “The Future of Virtualization” at the Santa Ynez Valley Tech Club Mixer held on May 20 at the Royal Scandia Inn in Solvang.

Chris Chirgwin, chief executive officer of Lanspeed, addressed about 30 business professionals about the future of computing using virtualization technology.

Virtualization technology is fairly simple to understand – instead of having your hard drive and programs on a server in the building, they are stored on a “virtual server” on land or “in a cloud” said Chirgwin.

 

The technology allows better usage of the server, greater access to programs to all users, and the real kicker – an 80 percent energy savings.

Chirgwin passed around a four-inch Panologic box weighing about a pound, all a virtualization user would need on their desk rather than a PC.

“Plug in your Ethernet, and serve it up!” said Chirgwin. “Our traditional PC will soon disappear.”

With security an issue for many businesses, virtualization may be frightening to some professionals, but in reality is probably as safe as anything we are already using. And it offers some features such as a rollback to a past date, so that you could easily recover anything information lost.

 

The server stores personalized information separate from the operating system, so users’ desktop settings and similar usage is still the same and will not interfere with crucial stored information. It also offers greater security to businesses as the information cannot be physically stolen.

“We are at the infancy of computing technology,” said Chirgwin. “This will have dramatic social and communication changes.”

Chirgwin said that in the very near future, the public will be using this technology, paying a fee for an internet connection using a box such as Panologic’s — and with it getting a choice of using more than one operating system and accessing any software, for a fee.

 

He said for a real eye-opener to read “The Earth is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. He also mentioned several technology arenas that will burst forth very soon. Future computing will include the “Cloud Computer” (software servers using virtualization), the end of the silicon chip and an increase in bandwidth and storage capability.

He also said that speech recognition programs are becoming very sophisticated, and that Google is leading the pack in buying up all innovations.

The Santa Ynez Valley Tech Club meets monthly and its objective is to promote and encourage development of careers for men and women in technology, mentor boys and girls in building technology careers, serve as a resource in the sharing of ideas to foster professional growth and raise the profile of the Santa Ynez Valley so that it is perceived as an attractive professional location for technology. For more information, visit hhtp://syvclubtech.org on the Internet or phone Deborah at (805) 686-8477.