Virtualization platforms - it seems like everyone out there is offering up their own branded product these days, and many of them are free. Back in the day when this stuff used to cost you a pretty penny (ok, so not all platforms are free... yet), VMware offered a hosted platform called VMware GSX Server. Over time, the platform changed its name and has been refined into what I believe to be a solid, well perfor Virtualization platforms – it seems like everyone out there is offering up their own branded product these days, and many of them are free. Back in the day when this stuff used to cost you a pretty penny (ok, so not all platforms are free… yet), VMware offered a hosted platform called VMware GSX Server. Over time, the platform changed its name and has been refined into what I believe to be a solid, well performing virtualization product. Now, VMware is announcing that the latest version, VMware Server 2, is ready to go forth and multiply. It’s been a while since a new version of Server was announced, and there hasn’t really been a lot of fanfare over the product. Even though it’s free, its pay-for sibling products, VMware Workstation and VMware ESX Server, seem to get all of the attention. But according to VMware, more than 3 million copies of VMware Server have been downloaded to date, with approximately 70 percent of these downloads coming from companies that can be categorized as small to medium sized businesses. “VMware Server is ideal for businesses interested in quickly and easily experiencing the benefits of virtualization,” said Dan Chu, vice president of emerging products and markets at VMware. VMware admits that giving away VMware Server is a good way for new customers to evaluate and begin using VMware software. Once a customer gets a taste of all the benefits that virtualization has to offer and also realizes its ROI, they can open up their wallets and transition over to VMware’s enterprise-class product – VMware Infrastructure 3 – and then add on more sophisticated features and functionality to help them fully deliver on their virtual infrastructure. VMware Server 2 boasts a number of new features. It will include a new Web-based interface that supports more than 30 guest operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 Beta, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Ubuntu 7.10. And it adds support for 64-bit guest operating systems when run on top of 64-bit compatible processors.The new version can also support transparent paravirtualization through VMI, high speed USB 2.0 devices, and has increased support for up to 8GB of memory per virtual machine with up to two Virtual SMP processors.VMware has made the beta available for download, here. However, the company wasn’t specific on a release date, only saying that the product would be available sometime next year. Software Development