XenSource unveils low cost VMware rival

XenSource has launched a beta of its XenEnterprise 3.1 application, offering what it claims is a cheaper alternative to VMware's virtualisation software. 

XenEnterprise 3.1 is the first version of XenSource's application that allows enterprises to run Windows in virtual compartments. The company released a version last August which supported only Linux operating systems.

"We now have all the features of VMware, but at only 20 per cent of the cost, " John Bara, vice president of marketing at XenSource, told vnunet.com.

Bara claimed that the software offers superior performance over VMware and other Xen implementations because of the support for acceleration technologies built into Intel and AMD chips as well as a set of proprietary acceleration technologies.

"[Xensource] is positioning ifself between the full flagged VMware Infrastructure product and the freebie hosted versions of VMware Server and Microsoft Virtual Server," Gordon Haff, a principal IT advisor with analyst firm Illuminata, told vnunet.com.

XenSource offers a commercial implementation of the open source Xen technology developed at the University of Cambridge. 

Several operating system vendors are building in support for the technology, including Sun Microsystems and Red Hat. 

Microsoft has promised to add support for the technology in its forthcoming version of Windows Server codenamed 'Longhorn'.

Novell launched its Xen-enabled SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 last summer.

XenSource's software is essentially a bundle of its own Linux distribution with the Xen open source technology. Users will install their operating systems and applications in virtual compartments that sit on top of the Xen Linux distribution.

Although no server vendors currently ship XenSource certified hardware, Bara is confident that this would happen "within the next year".

In the meantime he is relying on systems integrators and hardware distributors to install and support the software on new servers.

Illuminata's Haff argued that the lack of third party certification shouldn’t be an issue because customers aren't expected to run applications on the Xensource Linux distribution.

The market share figures for virtualisation on industry standard x86 servers are largely stable and hover around five per cent.

XenSource is betting on the fact that the relatively high price of VMware is one of the main factors that is holding back the technology.

A second factor that could increase adoption, argued Bara, is standardisation around the Xen platform.

XenSource initially plans to target Windows users looking for a server consolidation platform.

At a later stage the firm will broaden its focus to include enterprises looking to run disparate operating system such as Windows and Linux as a virtual system on a single physical server.

XenSource expects to launch a final version of XenEnterprise by December. General availability is projected for January 2007. Licence fees start at $488 for a two-way server per year or $750 for a perpetual licence.