VMware now offers full virtualisation support to 64-bit
operating systems.
The firm, owned by EMC, has announced the availability of VMware
ESX Server 3.0.1 and VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.1, which add full
support for 64-bit operating systems to the VMware Infrastructure 3
platform.
Both products are available free to customers who have VMware
Infrastructure 3 support and subscription contracts.
The update to VMware Infrastructure 3 also includes a
"non-disruptive" upgrade process from VMware ESX Server 2.x hosts
and storage.
Virtualisation allows enterprises to run multiple operating
systems on servers and sometimes desktops, allowing them to slash
their hardware costs.
Brian Byun, vice-president of products and alliances at VMware,
said, “64-bit computing brings important advancements in
application performance and scalability, and greatly expands the
enterprise workloads that can benefit from the volume economics of
x86 hardware systems.”
He added, “The transition to 64-bit computing is a gradual one
for customers. VMware Infrastructure 3 will be key to managing this
gradual adoption curve as customers look to run mixed environments
containing
32- and 64-bit applications and on multiple operating systems.”
VMware ESX 3.0.1 and VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.1 are available
for download at
www.vmware.com/products/vi