Xen and the art of open source virtualisation

The open source Xen project has released version 3.0 of its virtualisation software. 

The new version brings the application within reach of large enterprises, according to the suite's developers, by offering increased performance and support for large server memory configurations of up to 4GB for 32-bit systems and 1TB for 64-bit servers.

Xen enables enterprise users to cut a single physical server into 32 virtual machines that each behave as an individual system.

Running applications on virtual machines offers potential savings on hardware and maintenance costs while maintaining the security and stability of a dedicated server.

Xen was developed at the University of Cambridge with support from Intel, and competes with proprietary applications providers including VMWare.

The new software also hooks into Intel's Virtualization Technology introduced earlier this year in its Xeon and Pentium processors.

The chip feature offers better performance for virtual machines. Support for a similar technology from AMD called Pacifica is slated for release in early 2006.

Xen 3.0 is available for Red Hat, SuSE Linux and Solaris 10.

• The wise man's guide to Christmas shopping
• Win a trip to Las Vegas!