Technology vendors have already virtualized servers, desktops, storage and even networking, and these efforts have translated into big-time cost savings and tons of efficiencies for enterprises. 

Databases, on the other hand, have been a tougher nut to crack. And that's because virtualizing databases is difficult to do, in large part because they're complex and constantly changing.

At this stage, database virtualization isn't a widespread technology in the channel, but that could soon change. Delphix, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup, currently has around 25 channel partners and is looking to double that this year.

Both Delphix and Boston-based Tesora are targeting partners that act as strategic advisors to their customers, including system integrators, as opposed to partners that have a transactional mindset.  This isn’t surprising. The cloud is forcing channel partners of all stripes to adjust their traditional way of doing business and move to where the action is happening.

Solving the challenge of virtualizing databases is seen as a way to make cloud computing more powerful. Companies want to avoid buying hardware for every app that runs a database, and they're increasingly attracted by the option of paying for computing resources by the hour.

To address this opportunity, a handful of startups, including Delphix, have emerged that use virtualization to make databases more scalable and flexible.

Typically, organizations make multiple copies of a database to support things like application development, QA testing and backup, but that is time-consuming and chews up lots of storage.

Delphix deals with this by making one database copy and sharing it virtually across multiple database instances, said Rick Caccia, vice president of strategy at Delphix.

Caccia said Delphix can not only cuts storage costs, it also greatly speeds the process of provisioning databases and making them available to users inside organizations.

"Everyone thinks they have their own copy of the database, but they don’t. Customers can go from taking two weeks to get a database copy to setting one up in minutes," Caccia said, explaining the benefits of Delphix.

Jamie Shepard, regional and health systems senior vice president at Lumenate, a Dallas-based national solution provider who has worked with Delphix for several years, said one key aspect of its technology is the speed with which it can virtualize data sets and then ship logs to those data sets.

Using Delphix, organizations can make fewer copies of production data, use less storage, and avoid the security issues that arise from multiple database copies, according to Shepard.

"They virtualize all of it into one location. They do full audit logging, so you can run a single report and see every privileged user -- access, refresh, creation -- from one single place," Shepard said.

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