VMware ESX Server Continues to Garner Industry Accolades

Industry-leading Product Honored for Innovation, Strategic Importance and Value to the Customer by IDG and Microsoft Tech Ed Europe

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 26, 2004 — VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems, today announced that VMware ESX Server won the IDG Network Enterprise Product of the Year and the Microsoft Tech Ed Europe Best of Show awards, marking the second year in a row top honors have been bestowed upon ESX Server. Last year, VMware ESX Server won the CNET Networks Enterprise Product of the Year and the PC Magazine Technical Excellence awards.

The IDG Network judges evaluated products based on their innovative and effective use of networking technology. The Microsoft Tech Ed Europe Best of Show judges evaluated products based on their strategic importance in the market, competitive advantage and value to the customer. The field included more than 70 entries.

"VMware ESX Server provides a virtual server environment allowing IT professionals to host multiple live operating systems on one device," said Graham Parker, Chairman of Vbug User Group and Microsoft Tech Ed Best of Show judge. "This product does not require a host operating system, and interacts directly with the hardware to provide multiple virtual machine environments. It supports nearly all operating systems and allows IT professionals to transfer environments from one machine to another using VMotion with no down-time."

VMware ESX Server is virtual infrastructure software for partitioning, consolidating and managing systems in mission-critical environments. Adopted by thousands of IT organizations worldwide, VMware ESX Server has saved hundreds of millions of dollars in costs through providing server consolidation, provisioning, image/hardware independence, high availability and disaster recovery. ESX Server provides a highly scalable virtual machine platform with advanced resource management capabilities, which can be managed by VMware VirtualCenter.

VMware VirtualCenter is virtual infrastructure management software, providing a central point of control for virtual computing resources. Using VMotion technology in VirtualCenter, enterprises are able to respond to changing business demands in real-time and move virtual machines from one physical server to another with continuous service availability. The VMware Virtual Infrastructure SDK provides standards-based interfaces that enable ISVs, partners and customers to control VMware virtual infrastructure and to integrate into existing management frameworks.

"We are flattered and our vision is reinforced by VMware ESX Server winning these prestigious awards," said Michael Mullany, vice president of marketing at VMware. "These awards underscore the value of ESX Server and validate the broad support that ESX Server enjoys from the thousands of customers using it as their standard for server virtualization. As we look ahead, we remain committed to continuing to bring useful and innovative technology to market."

Virtual Infrastructure

Virtual infrastructure provides a layer of abstraction between the computing, storage and networking hardware and the software that runs on it. By implementing a virtual infrastructure, IT organizations can provision new services and change the amount of resources dedicated to a software service simply by interacting with a management console as opposed to physically reconfiguring or repurposing hardware. The hardware management is now completely separated from the software management, and hardware equipment can be treated as a single pool of processing, storage and networking power to be allocated and reallocated on the fly across the enterprise.

By creating a uniform virtual hardware platform across the entire data center, virtual infrastructure allows software to be installed on or moved from any physical system to another without requiring reconfiguration of the software —operating system or applications. Virtual infrastructure makes existing resources more efficient and flexible, driving cost out of IT.

About VMware, Inc.

VMware, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC), is the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems. The world's largest companies use VMware solutions to simplify their IT, fully leverage their existing computing investments and respond faster to changing business demands. VMware is based in Palo Alto, California. For more information, visit www.vmware.com or call 650-475-5000.

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