Iomega drive clones whole PCs

EMC's Iomega division has come up with a new virtualisation technology that consumers can use to 'clone' a whole PC and its contents into a fully portable form, states PC World.

Based on technology from VMware, Iomega's v.Clone makes a copy of a PC's whole environment, including operating system settings, applications, and data, saving it all to an external hard disc.

Plug this disc into another PC, and the cloned identity takes over that machine until unplugged, at which point all traces of data are deleted from the host.

More than a year has elapsed since the economic downturn began, and the year 2009 was again marked by contracting IT budgets, fewer data centre staff and, of course, more assets for IT staff to manage, writes SearchServerVirtualization.

Despite the clear stalling in many areas of IT spending, the virtualisation market has roared along. Virtualisation technologies have provided IT managers with tangible and immediate ways to save on hardware and energy costs, augment data centre flexibility, and even improve server management and performance.

SearchServerVirtualization.com has announced the winners of its annual Products of the Year awards, a sampling of the companies it and its judges believe are best positioned to provide great products in 2010 and beyond. Winners include VMware, Citrix and Vizioncore, in various categories.

Cloud computing and virtualisation will be the biggest areas of development in security during 2010, according to industry experts, says ComputerWeekly.

Businesses of all sizes can expect increasing collaboration between suppliers as cloud and virtualisation technologies usher in a new way of thinking about and doing security.

There will be a surge in interest in virtualising client devices that allow organisations to manage computer equipment more efficiently. This will lead to the creation of 'dual use' devices for work and home, said Graham Titterington, principal analyst at Ovum.