Microsoft takes the virtualisation plunge

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 23 May 2006 19:33

Business IT - Technology

Microsoft intends to have a beta version of a new hypervisor virtualization system before the end of the year in an attempt to bridge the gap between itself and the field in both proprietary and open source markets on the Intel platform. The new hypervisor technology will enable system administrators to run multiple operating systems in virtual machines on a single server.

Windows and Linux based systems already have access to an open source hypervisor virtualization project called Xen, while EMC company VMWare also offers free hypervisor virtualization products for both Windows and Linux based systems. Microsoft has a virtualization product for Windows it released last year called Virtual Server 2005. However, it is a Windows centric product, with some recently added support for running a few Linux distributions.

Although it is being rushed to market, the new hypervisor technology, code-named Viridian, is not expected to be available until early 2008, about six months after the anticipated release of the Longhorn server product.

Microsoft has also announced its intent to acquire Softricity Inc. Softricity offers the SoftGrid Desktop Virtualization Platform, which turns almost all Windows applications into a service using application virtualization and streaming software technologies.

Softricity technology provides customers with application virtualization solutions that are expected to allow Windows customers the ability to reduce the TCO of desktop deployments. Applications are installed and managed centrally and then delivered directly to the user’s desktop in a contained, virtualized image that does not interfere with or require interaction with the operating system itself and other applications present on the desktop.