TechAgility

I was checking some other news over at ChannelRegister and found this interesting little snippet.

I’m sure the Microsoft marketing will make a lot more of this than it’s worth? 

Microsoft counters VMware insanity with optimistic frown

I’m pretty sure that this is part of the reason VMware has pushed so hard with ESX Server 3i - a 32MB version of its flagship product that can and will be embedded into the flash memory of servers. Dell, IBM, HP, Fujitsu and others have lined up to include ESX 3i in the memory of at least one system each. So, you can boot right into VMware without touching an operating system, and VMware’s hypervisor starts to look like a standard server component.

Of course, VMware would be in better shape with this play if every server from these vendors included ESX 3i or at least presented it as an option at sales time. That may happen one day. In the meantime, Microsoft is content to downplay VMware’s actions.

“It is important to understand that Viridian will ship as part of Windows Server 2008,” Microsoft’s virtualization chief Mike Neil told us. “VMware is in a situation where they are not an OS vendor. They need a distribution mechanism through the OEMs. This is the approach they have taken.”

But would Microsoft consider shipping a separate hypervisor that could slot into memory as well? Viridian is less than 1MB, according to Neil.

“I don’t know that (an embedded hypervisor) has substantial value today,” Neil said.

Technorati Tags: VMware , Viridian , hypervisor

written by dcaddick