DataSynapse and application virtualization

I was offered the opportunity to speak with Kelly Vizzini, CMO of DataSynapse, the other day. She introduced me to a new member of her staff, Shayne Higdon, VP of Product Marketing. Kelly and I have been part of panel discussions at several conferences on virtualization, grid computing and the like over the years.  It was good to catch up with her and learn how DataSynapse is doing.

DataSynapse's focus is application virtualization, that is breaking the link between applications and their underlying infrastructure to offer organizations the benefits of improved scalability, higher levels of reliability, improved operational efficiency and providing reduced hardware and software costs.

DataSynapse would say that the goal of its products (FabricServer and GridServer) is building a datacenter in which all IT resources are shared and not isolated into application or departmental silos. This would mean, of course, that the utilization rates of these machines would be higher than what is traditionally seen in organizational datacenters. This would also mean that fewer machines would be needed to support the organization's workload.

This "next generation" datacenter, DataSynapse points out, would be managed in an automated fashion making sure that service levels are predictable and constant even though the world outside presents demands in a random or unpredictable way. The management of these IT resources would be based upon the organization's own priorities and guidelines. The company would distinguish this from infrastructure virtualization where only system services are virtualized.

I know, I know, that reads like the statements many other companies in this market are making today. DataSynapse, however, isn't just artfully reciting the best of today's industry hype. The company has a track record of success doing this very thing for their customers. When I requested one or two reference cases, Kelly and Shayne pointed out that they have dozens of them. These customer success stories can be found on the DataSynapse Web site. These customers help DataSynapse make a strong case that the company can actually do the things that they claim to be able to do out in the wild. Many others have only demonstrated this in captivity, that is, the safety of their own development center.

Are any of you DataSynapse customers?  If so, what are your experiences using this software?  Are the claims of DataSynapse true?