With all the hype surrounding virtualization reaching an all time high, virtualization vendors are continuing to scramble to come up with new features, applications, use-case scenarios, etc to try and further penetrate the market. One such idea being floated around recently was that VMware might be launching some sort of "light" edition of its popular ESX Server hypervisor that would run within a server's firmwa With all the hype surrounding virtualization reaching an all time high, virtualization vendors are continuing to scramble to come up with new features, applications, use-case scenarios, etc to try and further penetrate the market. One such idea being floated around recently was that VMware might be launching some sort of “light” edition of its popular ESX Server hypervisor that would run within a server’s firmware. Rumor has it that VMware may even be announcing it or showing it off at VMworld next week.If that’s the case, XenSource may have just beat them to the punch as they announced yesterday their XenExpress OEM edition – an embedded version of its hypervisor for AMD and Intel processors.This new edition will allow OEM system vendors and other OEMs interested in the technology to include a full virtualization platform as an integrated component in the server, pre-installed in system flash or on the hard disk. It enables the server to boot with multiple BIOS partitions at system power-on, making it ready to install and manage virtual machines. The OEM edition is fully compatible and upgradeable to the new advanced management features found in XenEnterprise v4 – features that include XenMotion, XenCenter and the XenAPI. Features of XenExpress OEM Edition: Based on the industry’s most open, scalable, high performance virtualization engine, the Xen hypervisor. Built-in support for the latest hardware virtualization features from Intel and AMD – delivering near-native performance, while maximizing platform security. OEM value-added extensions – optimized for virtualization-ready hardware platforms, enabling OEMs to enhance the serviceability, manageability and security of their customer’s infrastructure, through direct integration of embedded, secure system partitions that implement OEM value-added software enhancements. OEM up-sell opportunities for virtual infrastructure – offering a fully featured server consolidation value proposition “out of the box” with easy upgrade to the full XenEnterprise v4 feature set.The company said that XenExpress OEM edition is available now to OEMs who want to integrate the product into their solutions. No OEM customers have been announced as of yet, however XenSource says they have commitments from people – they just can’t name them yet. If you are interested in more information, you might want to stop by their booth at VMworld. Software Development