VMware launches 'cloud OS' for SMBs, hosters and enterprises

At a large-scale rollout today, VMware and blue-chip partners filled in the details on a cloud-oriented "virtualization operating system" that's been hinted more and more about since its initial preview at an EMC customer conference last fall.

Essentially, vSphere 4 "slides in a new layer of software" for bringing together "islands" of server software running in different operating environments, said VMWare CEO Paul Maritz, speaking at an event that also featured live appearances by top brass from allies Intel, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell.

"It's de rigeur these days when giving a presentation to talk about 'the cloud," Maritz admitted. "I'm going to be no exception," he added, asserting that, to him, "cloud" is simply "shorthand" for "cutting the complexity" out of computing.

Reiterating a long-term strategy of virtual "private clouds" articulated in Cannes, France during February, Maritz said today that vSphere 4 will be followed by a "steady tempo" of related announcements over the next 18 months. Under the long-term scenario, customers will be able to create clouds that keep the security, manageability, and high availability of the internal computing environment while also accessing applications and services from one or more external clouds.

Specifically, the product announced today allows up to eight Intel Xeon 5500 processors to function as a single virtual machine (VM), for operating database and other mission critical applications, said VMware CTO Jeff Nick.

But beyond Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus versions, VMware will also offer an edition for SMBs known as "Essentials Plus," to be "affordably priced" at $166 per processor.

With Essentials Plus, smaller businesses will be able to build virtualized "mini data centers" on just a few servers, said Nick. The CD for the "virtual OS" went gold today, and shipment is slated for later this quarter.

In addition to greater scalability than VMware's earlier virtualization software, vSphere brings a new user interface and capabilities across areas that include efficiency, control and choice, said Nick, who also talked about the benefits of virtualization for cutting costs through server virtualization.

On a Sun Fire 15K server, Nick demo'd new features such as vCenter Host Profiles, for quickly rolling out configuration changes to multiple servers, and vStorage Thin Provisioning.

In a reference to Oracle's surprise buyout of Sun on Monday, a VMware staffer playfully replaced an "IBM" sign attached to the Fire server with an "Oracle" placard. "I like the 'Oracle Fire.' That's good," Nick quipped.

Maritz contended that while IBM has sometimes taken credit for "inventing virtualization," VMware was the first to recognize -- soon after its founding in 1998 -- the potential for virtualization across multiple servers.

But IBM -- a company that was in talks to buy Sun
before Oracle entered the picture -- was among a long list of VMWare hardware, software, and hosting partners making video testimonials for vSphere 4 at the event.

"BlackBerry users tend to think of BlackBerry as a mission critical application," remarked Peter Walker, senior director of software product management at RIM, in one of the testimonials.

Maritz also mentioned that VMware continues to work on a client-side initiative called VMware View, for installing "software to people" independently of whether they're using a "thin client" or "a thick client like a laptop."

Speaking live, Dell Inc. Chairman and CEO Michael Dell said that his company plans to expand support beyond the four Dell products now supporting VMware View.

Taking note of individual efforts of various VMware partners, Joe Tucci -- VMware's chairman of the board, and CEO of EMC -- maintained that Dell is in "excellent position" to take advantage of VMware's client-side virtualization.

In announcing its own x86-based cloud storage system earlier this month, EMC -- which holds a majority interest in VMware -- said that the system will be available for VMware first, and on Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization platform later.