Sun launches open-source virtualisation platform

12 Sep 2008 08:17

xVM Server is free to download, built to work on Windows, Linux and Unix operating systems, and is interoperable with VMware

Sun has launched an open-source virtualisation platform for servers under the banner xVM Server.

Although the product is free to download, support for the new application — including access to patches and training — costs $500 (£280) per physical server per year.

xVM is built to work on Windows, Linux and Unix operating systems, including Sun's Solaris, and is also interoperable with VMware, allowing workloads to be moved between the two platforms.

Keeping with the open-source theme, Sun also launched the xVMServer.org yesterday, an online open-source community to develop and improve the product.

Sun already offers the desktop virtualisation system xVM VirtualBox and the virtual desktop consolidation application, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

The company has also opened its Executive Briefing Centre in Linlithgow near Edinburgh in Scotland, where chief information officers and IT directors can go to find out about Sun technology first hand.
The facility is only the second of its type for Sun, with the other at its Menlo Park campus in California.

Story URL: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39487424,00.htm