VMware ESX qualifies under Microsoft virtualisation support program

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 04 September 2008 13:17

Business IT - Technology

When Microsoft eased its datacentre software licences to accommodate the needs of customers using virtualised environments, it also promised better technical support for third-party virtualisation products. The first hypervisor has now been qualified under the program.

Last month, Microsoft dropped a clause in the licence applying to 41 server products including SQL Server and Exchange so that customers were free to move licences more frequently than once every 90 days.

At the time, Zane Adam, senior director of integrated virtualization in Microsoft's server and tools business, said the company was "innovating its licensing policies, product support and a wide range of IT solutions to help customers get virtual now."

Another of those changes was that Microsoft will provide the same technical support for products running in validated virtualised environments as it would if they were running in non-virtualised environments.

The first third-party hypervisor product to be validated under Microsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) is WMware ESX 3.5 update 2.

"Virtualisation is now well within the IT mainstream and our relationship with Microsoft underscores how far virtualisation has come by providing VMware ESX users with access to valuable support for their virtualised Microsoft applications," said Bogomil Balkansky, senior director of product marketing at VMware.

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