KVM Success Stories Book

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IBM Systems and Technology
KVM Success Stories Book

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An introduction to KVM
KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is rapidly
gaining foothold as a cost effective, enterprise ready,
and open virtualization solution, with an extensive
ecosystem surrounding it.
This brochure tells you about several clients who
have leveraged KVM in their virtualization initiatives
with IBM hardware or software solutions.
KVM is an open source hypervisor, based on Linux.
It provides enterprise-class performance, scalability
and security to run Windows and Linux workloads.
KVM offers organizations a cost-effective alternative
to other x86 hypervisors, and enables a more scal-
able, and open Cloud. For clients concerned about
vendor ‘lock-in’ with virtualization technologies,
KVM is an attractive choice.
Many Linux distributions already come with KVM as
part of the package:
●●
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 and above
●●
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 and above
●●
Canonical Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and above
Or you can get KVM as a standalone hypervisor:
●●
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2 and above
KVM is important to IBM as it offers our clients
choice. IBM has over 60 developers contributing
to KVM as part of the open source community.
KVM is supported across IBM hardware, software
and services, including:
●●
IBM x86 systems including IBM® System x®,
iDataPlex® and BladeCenter® featuring
Intel® Xeon® processors for Linux and Windows
support KVM.
●●
IBM PureFlex™ System, IBM Flex System™ and
PureApplication™ System offer KVM as one of
their hypervisor choices.
●●
IBM BladeCenter x86 servers in the zEnterprise®
BladeCenter Extension (zBX) and Unified Resource
Manager support KVM.
●●
IBM Systems Director VMControl™,
IBM SmartCloud™ Provisioning, and Tivoli®
systems management solutions manage KVM.
●●
KVM is a tier 1 virtualization technology for
IBM Software Group with all the relevant key
Software Group products supporting KVM today.
●●
IBM SmartCloud Enterprise uses KVM as its
underlying hypervisor.
When clients choose a virtualization technology it is
not just about the hypervisor, but especially about
the technologies surrounding it. An extensive eco-
system surrounds KVM:

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●●
Hardware—KVM is supported on a variety of
hardware including IBM Systems.
●●
ISV—many ISVs have developed virtual appliances
with KVM for IBM PureFlex Systems.
●●
Virtualization Management—IBM Systems Director
VMControl and Tivoli systems management solu-
tions support KVM.
●●
Open Virtualization Alliance—an industry consor-
tium with 250+ members focused on fostering
market awareness and adoption of open virtualiza-
tion and KVM. IBM is a founding and governing
member.
●●
oVirt—the oVirt Project is an open source
virtualization project providing feature-rich server
virtualization management.
IBM KVM success stories are also available at:
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/virtualization/kvm/stories.html
●●
OpenStack—open source software for building
private and public clouds, supported by a global
community of developers and the OpenStack
Foundation where IBM is a Board member.
OpenStack provides support for many virtualiza-
tion technologies, including KVM, and much of
the OpenStack code development has taken place
on KVM.
In this reference guide you will see KVM success
stories out of this ecosystem.
Select a KVM Client
Success Story
Abyres and its Malaysian Clients (KVM on IBM Systems,
OVA member)
Alphinat (ISV on PureFlex, OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
Bloombase (ISV on PureFlex, OVA member)
Bonhams (Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization on System x)
Casio Computers (Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization on
System x)
China Merchants Bank New York Branch
(Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization on System x)
DutchCloud (IBM SmartCloud Provisioning)
EDELAP (KVM on IBM Systems)
eyeOS (ISV on PureFlex)
i-Layer (SUSE Linux with KVM on System x)
LetterGen (Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization on System x)
New Institute for Urban Planning of the Republic of
Srpska (Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization on System x)
op5 (ISV on PureFlex, OVA member)
Radware (ISV on PureFlex, OVA member)
Rural Credit Banks Funds Clearing Center
(Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization on IBM BladeCenter)
Scale Computing (ISV on PureFlex, OVA Member)
SLTN (IBM SmartCloud Provisioning)
Vissensa (KVM on IBM Systems)
Webb (Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization on System x)

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Abyres (Absolute Binary Resources)
The KVM Solution: Three Malaysian government agencies
adopt open virtualization
Open Virtualization Alliance (OVA) Member Company
Abyres helps three government agencies in Malaysia
deploy solutions based on Kernel-based Virtual
Machine (KVM) to increase performance and reduce
cost of ownership
Need:
As they sought to improve network operations, three
Malaysian government agencies faced several issues
including limited data center space, frequent hard-
ware failures and server management complexity.
The agencies include a Malaysian Blood Bank and
PERHILITAN, the Department of Wildlife and
National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia.
Solution:
The agencies looked to Abyres to virtualize their
operations using an open virtualization approach,
comprised of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat
Enterprise Virtualization software running on Dell
Blade and IBM System x 3650 class servers
powered by Intel Xeon processors.
Benefit:
These KVM-based solutions delivered increased
performance and scalability, higher availability, and
substantial cost savings, enabling the agencies to
meet all of their business objectives at a fraction of
the cost of alternative solutions. Because KVM sup-
ports heterogeneous environments, these agencies
retain the familiarity of their Windows environments
with all of the benefits of open-source-based
solutions.
Abyres is a member of the Open
Virtualization Alliance, an industry
consortium focused on fostering
market awareness and adoption of
open virtualization and KVM.
For more information on this client’s success visit:
http://openvirtualizationalliance.org/downloads/OVA_CustomerSuccessStory_Abyres_Final.pdf
“When people deploy virtualization they
tend to simply move one application
from the physical server to the virtual
server. This is technically virtualization,
but you will have the same problems as
before because this approach doesn’t
efficiently utilize the virtual solution.
Abyres believes that by clustering
applications, we can provide our clients
with the maximum utilization of their
high-performance virtual machines.”
—Syamsul Anuar Abd Nasir, Senior Technical Consultant, Abyres
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

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Alphinat
Alphinat is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) that has built a virtual
appliance on the IBM PureFlex System with KVM. Alphinat is a member of
the Open Virtualization Alliance.
Alphinat SmartGuide virtual appliance on the
IBM PureFlex System
Rapid deployment of online application development
capability on a flexible, integrated system
Solution:
Alphinat SmartGuide is an online application-
development tool that makes it possible to build
web-driven applications rapidly. This ultra-fast
development speed is important for many reasons,
not the least of which is the rate at which cloud-
based computing is growing. IBM developed a new
service capability which helps ISVs prepackage
applications into virtual images and appliances,
easily deployable into cloud environments. Together
Alphinat and IBM performed a first-of-a-kind initia-
tive to package and automate SmartGuide.
KVM provides an open platform for cloud enable-
ment. IBM and Alphinat are members of the Open
Virtualization Alliance, a consortium that fosters the
adoption of open virtualization technologies includ-
ing kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) and encour-
ages interoperability and accelerates expansion of
the ecosystem of third party solutions around KVM.
This alliance complements other open-source
communities that manage the development of the
kernel-based virtual machine Hypervisor and its
associated management capabilities for Linux and
Microsoft Windows applications. KVM virtualization
appealed to Alphinat because of its compelling
performance, scalability and security, which makes
it ideal for deployments to large-scale cloud
computing.
Link to view the full solution brief:
http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=SP&infotype=PM&appname=STGE_WA_AB_USEN&
htmlfid=WAS12354USEN&attachment=WAS12354USEN.PDF
Link to view the reference video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp8PCWDSAZ8
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

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BG-Phoenics GmbH
BG-Phoenics extends the benefits of mainframe
computing
BG-Phoenics has deployed IBM zEnterprise with the zBladeCenter
Extension (zBX). The x86 blades in the zBX have an integrated
hypervisor based on KVM.
With the world’s first production deployment of
IBM zEnterprise with the zBladeCenter Extension
Solution:
BG-Phoenics has two z196 servers housed in
separate data centers that are four kilometers
apart. The company added two zEnterprise
BladeCenter Extensions, one to each z196, each
containing two IBM BladeCenter PS701 servers
with IBM POWER7® processors and two
IBM BladeCenter HX5 servers with Intel Xeon
processors. Both types of blade server within
the zBX are fully virtualized as standard, with
IBM PowerVM® as the hypervisor layer for the
Power Systems™ blades and an integrated hypervi-
sor based on KVM—Kernel-based Virtual Machine
technology—for the x86 blades. BG-Phoenics is
already running two production systems on the zBX,
both on AIX® on PS701 blades. The first of these
is IBM License Metric Tool, part of the IBM Power
Systems Software suite. It provides vital information
on the utilization of resources by different pieces
of software across the entire Power Systems
landscape—including BG-Phoenics’ standalone
IBM Power® 770 and IBM Power 595 servers.
The second production environment on the zBX is
IBM Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring, which plays a
key role in assuring quality of service by enabling
BG-Phoenics to monitor and manage its complete
infrastructure, including the distributed servers
outside of the zEnterprise ensemble.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/STRD-8PBJCA?OpenDocument&Site=corp&cty=en_us
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

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Bloombase
Bloombase secures next generation virtual data center with
IBM PureFlex System and KVM
Solution:
The trend toward stronger platform security and
data privacy is essential and has become the
“must have” element of any business critical
systems. Bloombase StoreSafe delivers transparent
data at-rest encryption security of enterprise storage
systems from block, file, object to cloud, addressing
data privacy and integrity effectively on open
platform built on IBM PureFlex System and KVM.
Bloombase StoreSafe virtual appliance provides
superior security, performance, capacity and
scalability for transformational encryption protection
of host applications and critical data in multi-tenant
virtual environments. KVM offers open enterprise-
class virtualization where business sensitive systems
can leverage on Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux)
with IBM PureFlex System for enhanced platform
security.
Benefit:
The Bloombase solution enables encryption of
virtual servers and storage that is hard to be realized
with proprietary cryptographic hardware. It allows
customers to dramatically shorten data encryption
implementation times in complex heterogeneous
IT environment by 70 percent with pre-built virtual
appliance purpose-designed for IBM PureFlex and
KVM. End result is an agile and extensible comput-
ing infrastructure with minimized risk and lower
total cost of ownership.
Bloombase is an Independent
Software Vendor (ISV) that has
built a virtual appliance on the
IBM PureFlex System with KVM.
Bloombase is a member of the
Open Virtualization Alliance.
For more information on Bloombase and KVM view here:
English paper: http://www.bloombase.com/content/fBwXRRf5
Chinese paper: http://www.bloombase.com/content/J3UKmWme
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)
“Bloombase joined the Open
Virtualization Alliance (OVA) in
September 2011 to demonstrate our
support for the open source community
and to promote KVM and open
virtualization. Since then we have seen
a significant increase in interest in
KVM from our customers as they look
to implement next-generation secure
cloud computing environments.”
—Sean Xiang, CEO, Bloombase.

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Bonhams
Bonhams uses Red Hat Enterprise
Virtualization, an enterprise
virtualization solution produced by
Red Hat and based on KVM, on
IBM Systems
Bonhams auction house banishes antique servers
Need:
Founded in 1793, Bonhams is a privately owned
British auction house and one of the world’s oldest
and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The
Bonhams name is known worldwide throughout
all sectors of the fine art, antiques and collectors
markets, with several departments regarded as
leaders within their specialist category. After an
exciting period of growth—and significant mergers
and acquisitions in the US market—Bonhams was
challenged with an aging collection of unsupported,
end-of-life systems prevalent in the US offices.
Bonhams needed a scalable, cost effective system
for remote management and full disaster recovery
between its data centers in New York and San
Francisco.
Solution:
The auction house turned to IBM and IBM Business
Partner Quru to help it design, roll out and imple-
ment a new IBM solution comprising IBM System x
servers, KVM technology and IBM System Storage.
At each site, the auction house deployed four
IBM System x 3650 class servers with intelligent
Intel Xeon processors running Red Hat Enterprise
Virtualization (RHEV) 3.1 with KVM and Acronis
Backup & Recovery® Virtual Edition for RHEV, an
IBM System x 3550 class server running RHEV-M,
and IBM System Storage® DS3524.
Benefits:
The company reduced its servers by 75 percent,
saved 40 percent on project costs and ensured
global business continuity.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/cs/DLAS-95TKHH?OpenDocument&Site=default&cty=en_us
“Aside from a Linux-based auction
system, everything was based on older
platforms, and it was beginning to
crumble. The project was to consolidate
and refresh the hardware in the
US and roll out a new email platform
to bring them in line with the global
infrastructure.”
—Malcom Barber, Bonhams Group CEO
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

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Casio Computers
Casio Computer uses Red Hat
Enterprise Virtualization, an
enterprise virtualization solution
produced by Red Hat and based on
KVM, on IBM Systems.
Casio strengthens its core IT infrastructure with
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
Need:
Casio wanted to optimize the global IT infrastructure
within its business development department and
create business models to gain a competitive advan-
tage in its industry.
Solution:
When Casio decided to virtualize its IBM System x
servers in 2005, it moved from proprietary virtualiza-
tion software to an open source hypervisor in 2007.
Soon after, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, based
on the open source Kernel-based Virtual Machine
(KVM) hypervisor, was suggested to Casio and the
company’s testing results convinced it that it would
be able to gain the high-performance, scalable,
cost-effective solution it was looking for with
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization.
Benefit:
Since migrating to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization,
Casio has been able to reduce its costs significantly
while also speeding up procurement, which has
helped the company successfully handle business
management challenges.
Link to view the press release: ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/38154.wss
https://www.redhat.com/resourcelibrary/case-studies/
casio-strengthens-technology-infrastructure-with-red-hat
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)
“With Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
on IBM hardware, we have been able
to reduce costs significantly while also
speeding up procurement, which has
helped the company successfully handle
business management challenges.”
—Atsushi Yazawa, Deputy Senior General Manager,
Production Purchasing Division at Casio

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China Merchants Bank in
New York uses Red Hat Enterprise
Virtualization on IBM System x.
China Merchants Bank New York branch banks on virtual
desktop infrastructure with IBM System x, Linux and
innovative KVM technology
Need:
For security purposes, China Merchants Bank
New York branch has a unique network infrastruc-
ture that includes two isolated networks—one pro-
duction network for critical banking transactions
and one network with access to the Internet. China
Merchants Bank New York branch needed a secure
and efficient way for employees to access its two
physically isolated networks while minimizing IT
administration and expenses.
Solution:
The solution includes four IBM System x3550 serv-
ers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux with KVM
technology. Each of these production servers typi-
cally runs 18 to 20 virtual machines at one time. An
additional IBM System x3650 server with Red Hat
Enterprise Virtualization (based on KVM technology)
is used to manage the virtual machines and provide
a web-based interface for branch employees to
access the VDI environment. IBM Systems Director
helps easily manage the System x servers. In sup-
port of its new server environment, the branch also
deployed an IBM System Storage® DS3400 to
function as the branch’s Fibre Channel storage area
network. This provides a high-performance, scalable
and secure storage system that enables branch
employees to efficiently share storage across
workstations.
Benefit:
The IBM solution helped the New York branch
reduce its number of workstations by 50 percent,
save 20 percent on software licensing and hardware
costs, and provide faster storage performance.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/KFIN-927SAG?OpenDocumentSite=corpcty=en_us
“With the IBM System x and KVM
solution, we can quickly create a virtual
machine for users, which requires less
administration and saves a lot of time.”
—Long Ren, Assistant Vice President, Information Technology,
China Merchants Bank New York branch
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

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Dutch Cloud
Cloud Service Provider Dutch Cloud
BV uses KVM on IBM Systems with
IBM SmartCloud Provisioning.
Dutch Cloud BV
Delivers highly available, cost-efficient cloud services
Need:
Based in the Netherlands, Dutch Cloud offers SMBs
a range of cloud-based services from fully managed
IaaS to disaster recovery solutions. In building its
offering, the company needed to find the right bal-
ance between ensuring its platform was standard-
ized enough to enable easy scalability, and offering
the specific technical features best suited to different
types of workloads.
Solution:
The fully virtualized infrastructure is based on
IBM System x3650 class servers connected to
multiple IBM Storwize® V7000 disk systems.
Kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) and VMware
virtualization technology are used to enable clients
to run multiple virtual machines on Linux or
Windows images.
Benefit:
Supported sixfold increase in revenue while opera-
tional costs remained flat; reduced time to provision
200 virtual machines by over 90 percent; decreased
administrative workload by 70 percent.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/SSAO-8S5SCW?
OpenDocumentSite=corpcty=en_us
Link to view the reference video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i8gTRF0zmY
“KVM is close to both the kernel and
the hardware so we can optimize
performance and work with cutting-
edge hardware. Open standards are
also very important to us, so being able
to support both KVM and VMware
hypervisors with IBM SmartCloud
Provisioning software enables us to
offer choice to our customers.”
—Martijn Van Zoeren, CEO of Dutch Cloud BV,
an IBM Premier Business Partner
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

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EDELAP
EDELAP uses KVM on IBM Systems
KVM at EDELAP, S.A.—Reducing complexity and improving
availability with KVM on IBM System x
EDELAP is an energy distributor in La Plata,
Argentina servicing six cities. The company has
500 employees and is part of investment group
“Power Infrastructure.” Rapid growth at EDELAP
increased the risk of service disruption as the IT
infrastructure became more complex to manage;
it would take EDELAP a day to restore service to a
failed server. Furthermore EDELAP looked to
reduce hardware and software licensing cost and
to optimize the use of data center space.
Solution:
●●
IBM System x 3400 class server
●●
Six IBM BladeCenter HS22 servers (four with
2 GB of RAM, two with 4 GB of RAM)
●●
IBM System Storage DS3200 with 2 expansions
with all blades sharing storage
●●
Red Hat Enterprise Linux with KVM
Benefits:
●●
Software licensing costs reduced by 75 percent
●●
Batch processing performance improved by
50 percent (from 12 hours to 6)
●●
Time to provision a new server reduced from
one day to one hour
●●
Reliability increased by replicating virtual servers
on multiple physical servers
●●
Optimized data center space by consolidating
18 physical servers to 7
●●
Increased server density by running 30 virtual
servers on 6 physical servers
Link to view the reference video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJqWOEFqWXs
“At EDELAP, we have seen how KVM
has evolved over time. Our decision to
use KVM was definitely a smart choice.
It has allowed us to build a resilient
infrastructure that is more efficient
and cost effective to manage than the
alternatives we considered.”
—Gonzalo D’Alessandro, Head of Technology Communications,
EDELAP S.A.
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

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eyeOS
eyeOS is an Independent Software
Vendor (ISV) that has built a virtual
appliance on the IBM PureFlex
System with KVM.
eyeOS builds eyeOS Unified Workspace, a virtual web desktop
solution, with KVM
Need:
With new trends like mobility, tablets, multiple
OS and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) picking
up quickly, eyeOS decided to focus on helping busi-
nesses deploy lighter solutions for client computing.
For that purpose, it expanded the scope of its
product from a pure Web-based interface to a
full-fledged platform that can manage users, prefer-
ences, and deliver all types of applications.
The most critical challenge to be addressed by
eyeOS was the handling of legacy applications.
Even though more and more companies are deploy-
ing Web-based applications, some critical activities
still rely on software applications—from SAP to
Microsoft Office—that don’t offer a native web
client. This is particularly true for all the enterprise
applications tailor made to specific customers.
Solution:
eyeOS’ RD team eventually settled for a stack
made of Hypervisor KVM and RedHat’s open source
SPICE remoting protocol. OpenStack, Red Hat
Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) or IBM native solu-
tion Flex Manager in its PureFlex Appliances are the
alternatives to handle virtual machines server man-
agement depending on the client or the Managed
Service Provider (MSP) infrastructure where the
solution is going to be deployed.
Benefit:
Thanks to KVM, eyeOS’ web engine can run both
Windows and Linux VMs. This is an appealing option
in case the applications to be virtualized can run on
Linux. But most importantly, KVM is proving to be an
excellent hypervisor for Windows VMs even though
this hypervisor has gained fame in the Linux World.
For more information on eyeOS and KVM visit here:
http://www.eyeos.com/kvm-and-eyeos-unified-workspace
“KVM is a very strong hypervisor that
gained reputation for Linux Desktop
virtualization. It is less known that
KVM performance in virtualizing
Windows desktops is also outstanding.
Besides KVM works with SPICE and
allows for several options for the
VM management software.”
—Michel Kisfaludi, CEO, eyeOS
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

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i-Layer
i-Layer uses SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server with KVM on IBM System x
Need:
i-Layer wanted to expand its IBM hardware and
software resale business to meet growing customer
needs for secure, high-performance, cost-effective
cloud solutions and hosted cloud services.
Solution:
The i-Layer hosted cloud, running in an offsite data
center, is powered by virtualized IBM BladeCenter
HS21 and HS23 servers with Intel Xeon processors
running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.2 with
KVM technology. For cloud storage, i-Layer uses
IBM System Storage DS3000 systems connected to
IBM System x 3550 M4 and x3650 M4 servers with
Intel Xeon processors functioning as Network File
System (NFS) nodes. They use IBM Systems Director
for server management and IBM Tivoli® Storage
Manager to run regular data backups.
By using SUSE Linux with KVM technology, i-Layer
was able to easily meet the technical requirements it
had defined for its cloud.
Benefit:
KVM provides security capabilities that provide iso-
lation between multiple tenants in the cloud, which is
increasingly important as the number of i-Layer
cloud customers grows. KVM has also enabled
i-Layer to realize significant cost savings, lowering
i-Layer deploys a secure, high-performance, cost-effective
cloud using IBM BladeCenter, IBM System x and KVM
software-licensing costs 70 percent below competi-
tive virtualization software. The IBM and KVM cloud
platform also helped the company reduce its server-
provisioning time from two weeks to just 15 minutes.
The use of BladeCenter servers has also helped
i-Layer lower costs by reducing data-center space
requirements and power consumption.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/DLAS-92XPPA?OpenDocumentSite=corpcty=en_us
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)
“By using IBM Systems Director
and SUSE Linux with KVM on
IBM BladeCenter and System x, we’re
able to offer hosted cloud services to our
customers that provide a high level of
security in a multi-tenant environment.
KVM has also enabled us to realize
significant cost savings, lowering
software-licensing costs 70 percent below
competitive virtualization software.”
—Patrick Fitzgerald, Managing Director, i-Layer Ltd

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LetterGen
LetterGen uses Red Hat Enterprise
IBM Systems
LetterGen builds leading IT infrastructure with Red Hat
Enterprise Virtualization
Need:
As the company continues to innovate, the Belgian
enterprise wanted to realize its growth plans and
remain competitive. Since LetterGen was creating
more virtual machines than it could migrate—an
average of 10 per month—the company was looking
for a new solution that provided a stable environ-
ment that would be easy to maintain and expand
without incurring high costs.
Solution:
LetterGen strives to build cost-efficient, scalable
computing resources by migrating from VMware to
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, along with Red Hat
Enterprise Linux as the core operating system.
Benefit:
LetterGen has reduced costs by 67 percent,
increased utilization, optimized system maintenance
and improved service levels all around.
http://www.redhat.com/resourcelibrary/case-studies/lettergen-relies-on-red-hat
Link to the press release: http://www.redhat.com/about/news/press-archive/2012/5/
lettergen-achieves-substantial-performance-gains-and-cost-savings-with-red-hat-enterprise-virtualization
“Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
offered us the same features as
VMware at a lower price point.”
—Vincent van der Kussen, System Engineer Open System
BTR Services
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

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New Institute for Urban Planning of the Republic of Srpska
New Institute for Urban Planning
of the Republic of Srpska uses
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
on IBM System x
New Institute for Urban Planning of the Republic of Srpska
gains flexibility and reliability with IBM System x and KVM
Need:
Novi urbanisticki zavod Republike Srpske, which
translates to New Institute for Urban Planning of
the Republic of Srpska, is a government agency in
Bosnia and Herzegovina specializing in urban plan-
ning, architecture, road and infrastructure planning,
and ecological studies. The agency was struggling
to run its business with an out-of-date IT infrastruc-
ture that no longer satisfied its needs. Due to the age
of the systems, reliability and data loss had become
very real issues—ones the agency could not afford.
The New Institute for Urban Planning of the Republic
of Srpska needed a secure, flexible, scalable system
to protect its data and intellectual property, as well
as to increase employee productivity.
Solution:
The agency turned to IBM and IBM Business
Partner COMPUTING systems d.o.o. to help it imple-
ment, deploy and configure a new IBM solution
comprising servers, storage, uninterruptible
power supplies (UPSs) and more. They chose
IBM System x 3650 M4 servers with intelligent
Intel Xeon processors running Red Hat Enterprise
Virtualization (RHEV) 3.0 and an IBM System
Storage DS3524 disk system.
Benefit:
The new IBM solution protects data from both hard-
ware failures and security threats, boosts resiliency,
offers the flexibility to add new functions as needed
and increases employee productivity.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/KFIN-93KQ8V?OpenDocumentSite=corpcty=en_us
“RHEV with KVM is key to the new
system’s flexibility and performance.
Chosen for its benchmark performance,
high availability, live migration
capabilities, ease of management and
affordability, it is the only virtualization
platform used agency-wide.”
—Nenad Lakic, head of IT, Novi urbanisticki zavod
Republike Srpske
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

17
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op5
op5 is an Independent Software
System with KVM. op5 is a member
of the Open Virtualization Alliance.
op5 provides easy IT monitoring of KVM
Background:
op5 provides an adaptive and powerful open source
software called op5 Monitor for unified IT monitoring
that manages, reports, visualizes, and measures
information technology in large enterprise IT environ-
ments. op5 Monitor handles IT infrastructure from
network hardware, software and services all the way
to virtual or cloud based services. Also, op5 needed
to find a virtualization platform for its internal IT that
could deliver the performance and cost effective-
ness needed to meet the organization’s demands.
Solution:
op5 has developed a powerful Ready for PureFlex
virtual appliance for IBM PureFlex System that
enables monitoring of KVM environments.
IBM PureFlex System is ideal for deployment of
hypervisors such as KVM, and for using op5 Monitor
as the tool to monitor the resource usage on the
KVM virtualization infrastructure. op5 developed a
KVM plug-in (check_libvirt) for agentless monitoring
of KVM.
op5 implemented KVM as the strategic virtualization
platform of choice for its internal IT because of its
outstanding performance and cost effectiveness.
Benefit:
op5 can now provide its customers the ability to
monitor the KVM virtualization platform, including
monitoring of all services and applications running
on KVM, helping enterprises understand actual per-
formance and health of their virtual environment,
with all relevant data displayed in a unified view
along side other services.
op5 reduced its own software licensing costs by
approximately 60 percent using KVM technology
instead of the previously used virtualization solution.
For more information on op5 and KVM visit here: http://www.op5.com/op5-features/easy-monitoring-kvm/
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)
“Because of the decreased TCO from
KVM based solutions, KVM has
made it possible for me to maintain a
virtualization environment comparable
to any competitor, but at half the price.”
—Aron Lander, System Administrator/Operations Engineer, op5

18
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Radware
Radware is an Independent Software
System with KVM. Radware is a
member of the Open Virtualization
Alliance.
Successfully Deploying Globalized Applications Requires
Application Delivery Controllers
Need:
Overcoming the inherent challenges of ADC consoli-
dation, while delivering maximum agility for the appli-
cation delivery services as well as transforming a
traditional application delivery infrastructure into a
virtual application delivery fabric that provides appli-
cation delivery services to the whole data center.
Solution:
Radware assures the complete availability, perfor-
mance, and security of business-critical applications
for enterprises and carriers worldwide. Radware
enters the Open Virtualization Alliance to deliver
the first virtual ADC solution for KVM—minimizing
complexity, adding flexibility and dramatically
reducing overall costs in globalized applications
projects leveraging virtualized private, hybrid and
public cloud solutions.
Benefit:
Radware customers achieve highest application
delivery resilience and performance predictability,
data center business agility and IT efficiency, dra-
matic reduction in the cost of application delivery
deployments.
For more information on Radware and KVM view here:
http://www.radware.com/Company/TechnologyAlliances/technology_alliances.aspx?id=1570taID=2404imglogo=182739
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)
“Mission-critical applications and services
running in RHEV environments must
be highly available and deliver excellent
performance. With Radware becoming
an ISV for IBM PureSystems,
customers can not only address these
challenges, but also deploy and manage
their mission-critical applications
together with an advanced ADC service
on one consistent virtualization
environment.”
—Gilad Zlotkin - vice president, Virtualization and
Management Products - Radware

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“The Red Hat solution reduces our
cost and increases the utilization and
dynamic allocation flexibility. Selecting
enterprise-level open source products
allows us to have the initiative, without
vendor lock-in. In addition, we are
guaranteed technical support.”
—Yoa Chunyang, assistant general manager of IT Operation
Assurance, Rural Credit Banks Funds Clearing Center
Rural Credit Banks Funds Clearing
Center uses Red Hat Enterprise
IBM Systems.
Rural Credit Banks Funds Clearing Center optimizes operation
with Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
Background:
Rural Credit Banks Funds Clearing Center Co., Ltd.
was founded in Beijing in 2006, with the approval
of the People’s Bank of China. It has 31 nationwide
province-level rural credit union associations
including rural cooperative banks, rural commercial
banks and the Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank.
Increasing IT requirements for limited physical serv-
ers, in addition to fast growth, increased pressure
on the server infrastructure that supported the
Rural Credit Banks Funds Clearing Center network
server information systems. The organization imple-
mented Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization to consoli-
date physical space, cut costs and increase
availability and scalability.
For more information on this client’s success visit: http://www.redhat.com/resourcelibrary/case-studies/
rural-credit-banks-funds-clearing-center-optimizes-operation-with-red-hat-enterprise-virtualization
Solution:
●●
Red Hat® Enterprise Virtualization 3
●●
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
●●
JBoss® Enterprise Application Platform
●●
IBM BladeCenter blade servers
●●
IBM System Storage—DS Series
Benefit:
Due to the numerous benefits, the organization
chose to migrate from VMware to Red Hat Enterprise
Virtualization. The migration resulted in reduced
hardware, licensing and maintenance costs, as well
as dramatically improved utilization and flexibility.
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

20
« BACK | NEXT »For more information on Scale and KVM view here: http://www.scalecomputing.com/lp/whitepaper/kvm-ibm-whitepaper
Scale Computing is an Independent
Software Vendor (ISV) that has built
a virtual appliance using KVM and
IBM’s GPFS. Scale Computing is a
member of the Open Virtualization
Alliance.
Scale Computing’s HC3 based on KVM Offers an Affordable,
Easy-to-Use Virtualization Solution for the mid-market
Need
Many SMBs have not yet virtualized due to the com-
plex labyrinth of technologies that need to be woven
together into a fully functional, integrated and highly
available infrastructure. KVM plays a crucial part in
bringing hyper-convergence to this untapped market
and untangling this complexity. Hyperconvergence
includes combining all of the functionality of a data
center in an appliance-like form factor that can be
connected together to build an entire infrastructure
in building block fashion. Integrating KVM, Scale
Computing designed a full-functioning commercial-
grade, hyper-converged product, providing an
affordable, highly available, easy to use virtualization
appliance for small and midsize companies.
Solution
Scale Computing’s HC3, based on KVM, integrates
servers, storage and networking into a clustered
appliance with a single operating system called
ICOS® (Intelligent Clustered Operating System).
Through a single pane, ICOS manages virtual serv-
ers and storage to create a highly available platform.
Benefits
With no virtualization software to license and no
external storage to buy, HC3 lowers out of pocket
costs by as much as 75 percent and radically
simplifies the infrastructure needed to keep applica-
tions running. HC3 makes the deployment and
management of a highly available and scalable
infrastructure as easy to manage as a single server.
Scale Computing
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)
“We’re very excited to be an active
participant in the Open Virtualization
Alliance. Industry-wide commitment to
solving the challenges IT administrators
face, with technologies such as KVM,
will hasten the development of solutions
and technology price reductions.”
—Patrick Conte, GM and EVP of Worldwide Field Operations for
Scale Computing

21
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Link to case study: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/
LWIS-8YSTCX?OpenDocumentSite=corpcty=en_us
SLTN
SLTN delivers Cloud Services with
KVM on IBM Systems and with
IBM SmartCloud Provisioning.
SLTN Reduces cloud and virtualization management costs with
IBM SmartCloud Provisioning and KVM
Background:
SLTN is an information and communications tech-
nology (ICT) managed service provider and system
integrator in the Netherlands. The company serves
a wide range of organizations, from multinational
corporations and government agencies to mid-
market businesses. SLTN’s evolution from hardware
reseller to managed service provider, and, now,
cloud services provider reflects changing IT needs
over the past 15 years.
Solution:
To deliver cloud services, SLTN designed and
implemented a new data center based on
IBM BladeCenter and IBM System x 3550 class
servers, and IBM XIV Storage System technology.
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and VMware
virtualization technology are used to enable clients
to run multiple virtual machines with Linux or
Windows images depending on their needs.
Benefit:
SLTN found that by using SmartCloud Provisioning
it could also rapidly provision virtual machines with
little administrative effort. And while SLTN will use
other cloud management technologies when
needed, it has found that the majority of its clients
can benefit from using IBM SmartCloud Provisioning
software to support provisioning of both KVM and
VMware ESXi hypervisors. With the ability to deliver
new cloud services cost-effectively, SLTN expects
to realize a 24-month return on its investment.
“What we see, in general, is that
customers say the system management
of VMware can be difficult and that
licensing costs are high; and that’s the
main reason why customers are looking
to other options like KVM,” “We believe
that there’s a great future for KVM,
especially in combination with Linux.
I think there will continue to be a lot of
development in KVM so we’ll see better
and better performance, functionality
and management capabilities.”
—Henk Jansen, General Manager, Services, SLTN
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)

22
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Vissensa
For more information visit: www.vissensa.com
Vissensa uses Red Hat Enterprise
IBM Systems
KVM at Vissensa—KVM on IBM systems provides resilient,
low cost virtual desktops
Background:
With a KVM implementation of Virtual Bridges
VERDE, Vissensa created a high availability
environment where clients can test, quality assure
and benchmark their applications on a Linux
platform. The virtual desktop infrastructure enables
Vissensa’s customers to tune their solutions while
saving money relative to other solutions, without
sacrificing functional capabilities.
Solution:
●●
Vissensa VsX (Vissensa Solution Exchange)
●●
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (KVM) with
Virtual Bridges VERDE VDI solution
●●
IBM BladeCenter HS22
●●
IBM System x3650 class servers
●●
IBM Storwize V7000 storage
●●
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
Benefits:
●●
Integrated Virtual Desktop platform with low cost
operating system, reducing costs by 75 percent.
●●
Increased flexibility in provisioning new users,
new applications, new hardware
●●
Centralized management of desktop and
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) estate
●●
Optimized storage allocation and usage with
shared resources, processes.
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)
“Using virtualization with KVM
on IBM System x Servers and
Storwize V7000, Vissensa is able to
provision mobile corporate applications to
a world of varied devices, delivering a
“single pane of glass” to the corporate
workforce and ensure their connection to
common desktop service and corporate
applications is maintained.”
—Steve Groom, CEO, Vissensa Ltd

23
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For more information on this client’s success visit: Link to case study:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/KFIN-8ZELJ5?
OpenDocumentSite=corpcty=en_us
Webb
Webb uses Red Hat Enterprise
virtualization solution produced
by Red Hat and based on KVM,
on IBM Systems
KVM at Webb - Reducing costs and improving reliability with
RHEV on IBM BladeCenter
Background:
Webb, a Brazilian supply chain management
company, faced growing software-testing demands
and needed a new, cost-efficient infrastructure with
improved flexibility and performance. At the same
time, the company also needed to replace several
racks of servers used to run back-office applications
such as customer relationship management and
enterprise resource planning.
Solution:
The company deployed IBM BladeCenter H chassis
containing BladeCenter HS22 servers with Intel Xeon
processors. The servers were virtualized in two
clusters running Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0
with KVM. Webb also deployed IBM Systems
Director with Active Energy Manager for systems
management and IBM Storwize V7000 for storage.
Benefits:
The IBM solution reduced software licensing costs
by 70 percent, lowered configuration time for virtual
machines from two days to 15 minutes and reduced
server footprint by more than 80 percent.
OVA member)
BG Phoenics (zBX)
System x)
“In the Supply Chain SaaS business,
high reliability and low costs are
essential to our customers. By using
open virtualization with KVM on
IBM System x Blade Servers, we’ve
been able to accelerate our software
testing and quality assurance, as well
as host our production back-office
applications.”
—Mauricio Longo, IT Infrastructure Manager, Webb

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© Copyright IBM Corporation 2013
IBM Corporation
Systems and Technology Group
Route 100
Somers, NY 10589
Produced in the United States of America
March 2013
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, AIX, BladeCenter, Power, Power Systems, POWER7,
PowerVM, PureFlex, IBM Flex System, PureSystems, System x, Tivoli, and zEnterprise
are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions
worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies.
A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at “Copyright and trademark
information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
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other countries.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both.
Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States, other countries, or both.
This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be changed by IBM at
any time. Not all offerings are available in every country in which IBM operates.
It is the user’s responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any other products or
programs with IBM products and programs.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM products
are warranted according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are
provided.
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For more information
Contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit the following website:
ibm.com/systems/kvm
Twitter: @OpenKVM

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