Microsoft's more direct approach to virtualisation validates the market and will keep VMware innovating, says VMware CEO and founder Diane Greene.
"Microsoft was never a small player in virtualisation, so essentially they have been our competitors for quite some time," she said at a press briefing held at VMworld Europe 2008, in Cannes, France.
Microsoft introduced a hypervisor called Hyper-V with the launch of its Windows Server 2008 product. "It is the first time that they are incorporating it with the server product," she said. According to Greene, Microsoft's move to include virtualisation validates the value of the technology.
"We don't intend to try and supplant our competitors, but we will continue to play the market through our vision for virtualisation."
With Citrix's acquisition of XenSource, an open source virtualisation platform, it too runs head-to-head with VMware in the market. "We are pleased that there is more competition in the market. In the case of Citrix, they are focused more on the server streaming to thin client areas, while we are taking a much broader approach," states Greene.
VMware's hypervisor, ESX server 3i, is now being shipped at hardware level in servers developed by HP, Dell, IBM and Fujitsu Siemens. "Having our virtualisation technology installed at factory level with these vendors will help our deliberate penetration in the market," said Greene.
While it was not directly aimed at reaching a larger market, the spin-off will be one way to reach potential customers who did not consider virtualisation in the past, she added.
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