According to Jewish religion, the year is based on the lunar calendar and coming up at the end of this week is Rosh Hashanah - the beginning of the new Jewish Year.

No, I am not getting religious on you all, but it is a good time for self refection on what I have done this past year, and what I would like to accomplish in the upcoming year.

I was asked to prepare the vision for where we are going in the next year compared to where we are today.

I though I would share with you the list that I came up with (with no particular order of importance)

Internal Cloud

• Collaboration of virtual resources across the forest
• Connect the different virtual Centers together with Virtual Center Linked-mode
• Allow for check-out - migration - check back in on a different global location

Security 

• Tighten Virtualization security across the board
• Host
• Virtual Machines
• Virtual Center
• Procedures - Standardize procedures for more conformity and better operations
• Auditing changes made to the Infrastructure to allow a paper trail
• Look into utilizing VMSafe for security on the host for virtual machines when they become more widely available

Automation

• Utilize more scripting for more standardization of procedures (PowerCLI)
• Make use of Orchestrator for workflows and deployment
• 3^rd party / native tools for monitoring / alerts / problem identification and resolution

Storage

• Utilize the latest storage technologies for
• Thin provisioning
• Storage de-duplication
• Storage offloaded snapshots
• Storage replication between sites (SRM)

BCP/DR

• More efficient backup methods and faster restore time
• Start testing SRM

Cost / chargeback

• Define a cost model for each workload we offer
• Realistic chargeback according to resources consumed

Network

• 10gb Ethernet for higher throughput using iSCSI/NFS on the backbone network
• FCOE
• Integration with Cisco Nexus 1000 for bettor control and conformity of network policies and compatibility in our current Infrastructure

The Human Factor

• Education to the end user - virtualization does not mean a hit in performance - on the contrary
• Not every machine needs 4gb RAM 2 Quad cores
• Virtualization can save money both on CAPEX and OPEX

The Business

• Continue assistance to R&D / PD with enabling them to perform their job better / faster / easier
• Lab manager - start to work with these products - for better productivity
• Help the business with developing a Virtual Appliance Version of our product

Wishing you all a good year with good things to come (also in the virtualization world)

Shana Tova!