On March 30, 2009 Citrix opened the floodgates and started offering Citrix XenServer Enterprise for free. However to get some of the enterprise features such as High Availability it is necessary to purchase Citrix Essentials for XenServer. Here is a comparison of enterprise virtualization offerings from Citrix and VMware:

• Citrix XenServer Enterprise with Citrix Essentials for XenServer Enterprise Edition: $2,750 per server with one year Subscription Advantage.
• VMware vSphere Enterprise: $2,875 per CPU (up to 6 cores) + VMware vCenter Server Standard: $4,995.

Price Comparison

• N two-way servers (N > 3): $4,995 + N x $3,000
• Citrix XenServer Enterprise with Citrix Essentials for XenServer Enterprise Edition: $2,750 x N
• Citrix XenCenter: $0
• VMware vSphere Enterprise: $5,750 x N
• VMware vCenter Server Standard: $4,995

• N four-way servers (N > 3): $4,995 + N x $8,750
• Citrix XenServer Enterprise with Citrix Essentials for XenServer Enterprise Edition: $2750 x N
• Citrix XenCenter: $0
• VMware vSphere Enterprise: $11,500 x N
• VMware vCenter Server Standard: $4,995

  Examples

• 5 two-way servers: $4,995 + 5 x $3,000 = $19,995 savings with Citrix XenServer
• 5 four-way servers: $4,995 + 5 x $8,750 = $48,745 savings with Citrix XenServer
• 10 two-way servers: $4,995 + 10 x $3,000 = $34,995 savings with Citrix XenServer
• 10 four-way servers: $4,995 + 10 x $8,750 = $92,495 savings with Citrix XenServer

To take full advantage of VMware vSphere Enterprise six-core licensing limit, it may be worthwhile to consider the following servers with six-core AMD and Intel processors to maximize VM density:

• HP ProLiant BL465c G6, BL495c G6, BL685C G6
• HP ProLiant DL385 G6, DL585 G6, DL785 G6
• IBM BladeCenter LS22, LS42
• IBM System x3755
• Sun Blade X6240, X6440
• Sun Fire X4140, X4240, X4440

• HP ProLiant BL680c G5
• HP ProLiant DL580 G5
• IBM System x3850 M2, x3950 M2
• Sun Blade X6450
• Sun Fire X4450

Of course software licensing costs are only a component of the total cost of ownership and a number of other factors such as performance and management applications available must be considered when choosing a virtualization platform. This is exactly what solution providers using Lanamark Suite try to accomplish when presenting enterprise customers with side-by-side comparisons across end-to-end virtualization solutions that encompass hardware, software and service components.

On November 10, 2009 Lanamark announced Lanamark Suite 2009 R2. The new release dramatically extends scalability to 50,000 systems and adds support for the latest OS and virtualization platforms, including: Citrix XenServer 5.5, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, Microsoft Windows 7, VMware vSphere 4.0 and VMware vCenter. Lanamark also introduces aggressive pricing for virtual machines and enhances the Lanamark Storage Design Module to provide deep insight into current and historical usage of local and networked storage resources.

The new release is a culmination of more than nine months of close collaboration with our alliance and channel partners. Many thanks to everyone who helped us push the envelope of innovation and deliver a world-class product.

Read the official press release

Learn more about what's new in Lanamark Suite 2009 R2

On March 30, 2009 Citrix opened the floodgates and started offering Citrix XenServer Enterprise for free. However to get some of the enterprise features such as High Availability it is necessary to purchase Citrix Essentials for XenServer. Here is a comparison of enterprise virtualization offerings from Citrix and VMware:

• Citrix XenServer Enterprise with Citrix Essentials for XenServer Enterprise Edition: $2,750 per server with one year Subscription Advantage.
• VMware Infrastructure Enterprise: $6,958 per 2 CPUs + VMware vCenter Server: $6,044 with one year Gold Support for both products.

Price Comparison

• N two-way servers (N > 3): $6,044 + N x $4,208
• Citrix XenServer Enterprise with Citrix Essentials for XenServer Enterprise Edition: $2,750 x N
• Citrix XenCenter: $0
• VMware Infrastructure Enterprise: $6,958 x N
• VMware vCenter Server: $6,044 

• N four-way servers (N > 3): $6,044 + N x $11,166
• Citrix XenServer Enterprise with Citrix Essentials for XenServer Enterprise Edition: $2750 x N
• Citrix XenCenter: $0
• VMware Infrastructure Enterprise: $6,958 x 2N
• VMware vCenter Server: $6,044 

Examples

• 5 two-way servers: $6,044 + 5 x $4,208 = $27,084 savings with Citrix XenServer
• 5 four-way servers: $6,044 + 5 x $11,166 = $61,874 savings with Citrix XenServer
• 10 two-way servers: $6,044 + 10 x $4,208 = $48,124 savings with Citrix XenServer
• 10 four-way servers: $6,044 + 10 x $11,166 = $117,704 savings with Citrix XenServer

Of course software licensing costs are only a component of the total cost of ownership and a number of other factors such as performance and management applications available must be considered when choosing a virtualization platform. This is exactly what solution providers using Lanamark Suite try to accomplish when presenting enterprise customers with side-by-side comparisons across end-to-end virtualization solutions that encompass hardware, software and service components.

As soon as VMware releases its new pricing, a new before-and-after comparison will be published.

Last week Citrix announced that it will make Citrix XenServer Enterprise available at no charge to customers. How does its offering compare to that of VMware? To answer this question, it is essential to compare Citrix XenServer Enterprise to a VMware bundle that closely matches Citrix XenServer Enterprise features.

Which VMware bundle should Citrix XenServer Enterprise be compared to?

Since Citrix XenServer Enterprise does not have High Availability (HA) and Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS), the most accurate comparison would be versus

• VMware Infrastructure Foundation ($995) with VMotion add-on ($3,495) per 2 CPUs or
• VMware Infrastructure Foundation Acceleration Kit, which includes licenses for VMware Infrastructure Foundation and VMware vCenter Foundation ($2,995) for 6 CPUs, with VMotion add-on ($3,495) per 2 CPUs

Note: VMware Infrastructure Standard Edition includes HA and hence it would not be valid to compare it to Citrix XenServer Enterprise.

Multi-server Management

• Citrix is giving away XenCenter for free to allow enterprises to manage multiple hosts.
• The equivalent VMware vCenter Server offering is priced at $4,995 for an unlimited number servers or $1,495 for VMware vCenter Foundation limited to 3 servers
• Delta: $4,995 or $1,495 for 3 servers

Live Migration

• XenMotion is included with Citrix XenServer Enterprise
• VMware sells VMotion and Storage VMotion as an add-on starting at $3,495
• Delta: $3,495 per two-way server

Price Comparison

• 1 two-way server: $2,490
• VMware Infrastructure Foundation: $995
• VMware vCenter Foundation: $1,495
• No need for VMotion
• 2 two-way servers: $9,985
• VMware Infrastructure Foundation Acceleration Kit: $2,995
• VMware vCenter Foundation: included
• VMotion: $3,495 x 2 = $6,990  

• 3 two-way servers: $13,480
• VMware Infrastructure Foundation Acceleration Kit: $2,995
• VMware vCenter Foundation: included
• VMotion: $3,495 x 3 = $10,485 

• N two-way servers (N > 3): $4,995 + N x $4,490
• VMware Infrastructure Foundation: $995 x N
• VMware vCenter Server: $4,995 
• VMotion: $3,495 x N

When 4 or more servers are required, a simple rule of thumb is to multiply $5,000 by N +1 servers. For example if 10 servers are required then the price difference would be $5,000 x (10 + 1) = $55,000.

Citrix XenServer Enterprise with Citrix Essentials for XenServer Enterprise Edition vs. VMware Infrastructure Enterprise Edition comparison can be found here.

Notes:

• Support and Subscription (SnS) entitlements for VMware MUST be purchased separately
• XenMotion does not include storage migration available in the VMware VMotion + Storage VMotion bundle.