Microsoft Opens Up Virtualization Tech

Microsoft said Tuesday that it would open up its virtualization format technology, adding the Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) specification to the Open Specification Promise, first introduced in September. The announcement was made at the Interoperability Summit in Brussels.

Virtualization has become a popular technology in IT departments because it allows companies to save on hardware costs. A single machine can run several operating systems, and VHD allows the entire operating system and application stack to be contained in a single file.

More than 60 companies have adopted VHD, including Diskeeper, Fujitsu Siemens and XenSource. The format allows for migration across Microsoft Virtual Server, Virtual PC, and Windows Server virtualization with Windows Server "Longhorn," the company said.

With the format now part of the OSP, Microsoft expects even broader adoption. "We continue to increase our commitment to interoperability in our products and by providing access to technologies like the virtualization open format," server and tools head Bob Muglia said.

After years of keeping its technology within Redmond, Microsoft has turned to interoperability, both by choice and to some extent by force. Various projects such as the Open XML translator open source project and its recent work in instant messaging interoperability are examples of this.

"We are focused on delivering interoperability by design," Muglia continued.

However, those wishing to use Windows Vista within such virtual machine technologies will not be able to do so with the standard Home Basic and Home Premium packages. Only Vista Business and Ultimate Editions will work with software such as Virtual PC, VMware and Parallels, Microsoft disclosed this week.