SoftSelect awarded African distribution for XenSource virtual infrastructure platform

SoftSelect (Pty) Ltd has been awarded the distribution rights for the XenSource XenEnterprise multi-OS virtualisation platform in the African region.

XenEnterprise is the first commercially packaged and supported Xen-based virtualisation solution. Xen is one of the most mature open source projects that has been in development for a number of years, and has of late garnered a lot of attention from both the press and the computer industry as a very viable alternative to the VMware virtualisation solutions.

Xen and XenEnterprise are seen as the virtualisation platforms which will break the stranglehold that VMware currently has over the x86 virtualisation market space.

"Xen has matured as a more than capable replacement for VMware virtualisation solutions. Through the efforts of XenSource, the project is growing to be the leading solution in the market. It is a technically superior platform on every sphere, whether it be speed of execution, stability, robustness or price," says Werner van der Walt, MD of SoftSelect.

He adds: "Its hypervisor technology is a far more efficient way of virtualising operating systems compared to the complex hardware emulation as done by VMware, and on top of that the hypervisor will be baked into new versions of leading operating systems including RedHat RHEL, Novell SLES and Microsoft server platforms. We are certainly very proud to be associated with XenSource and we are extremely positive about the growth potential for the solution in the African marketplace. It is without doubt the next-generation virtualisation platform."

Roger Baskerville, sales director for Europe, Middle East and Africa at XenSource, commenting on the appointment of SoftSelect as distributor for Africa, said: "Virtualisation is going mainstream and to do so it needs to be technically superior, easy to consume and affordable. This is particularly true in a tough African market where virtualisation has to date been seen to be quite frankly expensive. The appointment of SoftSelect will help XenSource redress this balance and I am delighted to have the opportunity to partner with them."

SoftSelect will develop the market for XenEnterprise through its channel of partners and hosting partners. For any further enquiries from interested resellers or end-customers, SoftSelect can be contacted at 0861-101-102 from within South Africa, (021) 910 8240 internationally. Enquiries can also be sent through to customercare@softselect.biz for a speedy response from the Customer Care Team.