VMware vSphere 5 now shipping

VMware has announced the general availability of its vSphere 5 platform for cloud computing and virtualisation, which brings numerous improvements but a new licensing model for customers to contend with.

Launched in July, vSphere 5 supports more powerful virtual machine instances that can be configured with up to 1TB of memory and up to 32 virtual CPUs.

The new platform also offers enhanced capabilities, such as Storage DRS that enables data to be migrated to faster storage if application performance fails to meet specified levels.

However, VMware has also changed its licensing with the new release, tying it to the amount of virtual memory rather than the number of cores, as with vSphere 4 and earlier.

The company said that the move was designed to simplify its pricing model, but has met with uproar from customers who calculated that it will lead to a hike in licensing costs.

VMware responded to concerns by altering its licensing plans earlier this month, but customers are still warned that they will need new licences, and that current vSphere 4 licences will not work on vSphere 5.

Licensing starts at $83 (£60) per physical processor, according to VMware.

Further reading

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• Virtualisation
• VMware