Virtualisation vendor ups the ante

Virtualisation vendor, SWsoft is set to unveil new versions of its two key products early this month, as well as plans for new acquisitions this week.

The company has used the upcoming release of the beta versions of version 4 of Virtuozzo, its OS virtualisation product and the Microsoft Windows and Linux server product for Apple Mac desktops, Parallels to set out its roadmap for competing with market leader, VMware.

Serguei Beloussov, SWsoft chairman and chief executive told IT PRO that the company is working to position itself as dedicated to helping users optimise their IT infrastructures.

"We have come at virtualisation as an enabler of greater automation so that, in future, users will be able to create virtual environments and virtual machines based on different workloads, to help save on hardware and networking capital expenditure, as well as optimisation, maintenance and management workloads" he said.

He said it was SWsoft's aim to enable users to move easily between virtual versions of existing desktop and server environments, which opposed leading rival, VMware's strategy to create a separate platform for handling virtualisation tasks.

"Our differentiator is that, instead of competing with Microsoft Windows and Linux like VMware, we want to help these dominant OSs be competitive with VMware," Beloussov said. And he cited the upcoming release of its latest version of Virtuozzo, as well as the first version of Parallels for servers as examples of this strategy at work.

"We find market segments where VMware is not, like Parallels for Apple Macs," he said. "Although that has been successful, our endgame has been to reuse this technology in the server environment."

The company unveiled an alpha build of Parallels Server, which runs bare-metal as well as on top of Windows, Linux or OS X server earlier this year. The product is designed to give businesses the flexibility to run multiple server operating systems on a single physical server.

Beloussov added that the company would be prepared to acquire to maintain its number two market position behind VMware, hinting at news to come in this area later this week. Although, he would not be drawn on any further details.

The Virtuozzo and Parallels betas will be unveiled at the virtualisation industry event, VMworld 2007 hosted in San Francisco by rival vendor VMWare, from 11 to 13 September.

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