Both AMD and Intel are pushing virtualization, and companies like Vmware are going to be loving it. Vmware is now testing a trial version of their Premium ESX Server 3.0 product, which allows a single x86 based server to run multiple operating systems without the overhead of having a "host" OS, such as most virtual environments are today. The push towards virtualization with better hardware support such as dynamic load balancing is a great step to getting more use out of very expensive server hardware.
The new ESX Server 3.0 beta continues this higher-end trend. It includes features for balancing computing loads within a group of virtual machines, data backup, and cluster management, VMware President Diane Greene said Thursday in a meeting with reporters. The company also said earlier that the version will support virtual machines that span four processors, double that of the current Virtual SMP feature.
Vmware does have rivals, from both the open source community and Microsoft. Since virtualization is so untapped as of yet, it's no doubt that all three of big virtualization players will have lots of room to roam in over the next few years. Vmware is offering the trial version of ESX Server 3.0 to 2,700 people currently. The final product release date is unknown.