VMware offers no-cost server virtualization

VMware this week launched the first commercial server virtualization product to support 64-bit virtual machines. Dubbed VMware Server, the new offering attempts to bring virtualization to the masses at an aggressive price point: free of charge.

“We’re aiming to make it abundantly easy and compelling for any customer — any end-user, any sysadmin, any developer who’s new to virtualization — to take that first step toward virtualizing their infrastructure,” said Dan Chu, VMware’s senior director of developer and ISV products.

VMware Server breaks new ground in its support for 64-bit virtual machines; while earlier VMware products included optimizations for 64-bit processors, the virtual machine environments themselves were limited to 32-bit operating systems.

In addition, VMware Server is the first product to support Intel Virtualization Technology, which the chipmaker is gradually rolling out across its lines of x86 processors.

Finally, the new product includes “virtual SMP,” which allows virtual server instances to behave as if they were running on hardware with an arbitrary number of processors. These features will make their way into the company’s enterprise-class products, such as VMware ESX Server, in future product release cycles, Chu said.