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VMware Announces “Guest OS Kits” with Microsoft Windows for Virtual Computing Desktop Product

VMware Announces "Guest OS Kits" with Microsoft Windows for Virtual Computing Desktop Product

Customers now have easy and convenient way to deploy Microsoft Windows operating systems in VMware virtual machines VMware Guest OS Kits accelerate the time-to-deployment of Microsoft Windows XP

PALO ALTO, Calif., January 7, 2002 — VMware, Inc., the leading provider of virtual computing software for industry-standard computers, today announced the availability of Guest OS Kits for its award-winning virtual-computing desktop product, VMware Workstation 3.0. VMware Guest OS Kits are add-on products for Workstation 3.0 that contain pre-packaged versions of Microsoft Windows that quickly and easily install in a VMware virtual machine. Each Guest OS Kit installs a complete and fully licensed version of Microsoft Windows -- greatly simplifying how customers install Windows operating systems into a virtual machine.

The Guest OS Kit with Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional is available immediately, and can be purchased at www.vmware.comand through VMware authorized corporate resellers and other channel partners. Individual pricing for the Guest OS Kit with Windows 2000 Professional is $199. Guest OS Kits with Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition will become available in the first half of 2002.

VMware Eases the Transition to Windows XP

VMware Workstation enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a physical computer in secure and high-performance virtual machines. As a result, technical professionals spend more time being productive and less time configuring hardware, installing software, rebooting, or reconfiguring systems. Enterprise IT organizations also have the option of running incompatible legacy applications in virtual machines on PCs running newer versions of Windows, including Windows XP. By providing an economical and efficient way to develop, test, support and deploy Windows XP technology, VMware's virtual computing software helps accelerate enterprise migration to Windows XP.

"The new VMware Guest OS Kits are a tremendous value-add for companies that continue to use mixed environments and can help customers manage the transition to new Windows operating systems," said Mike Oldham, General Manager at Microsoft. "With Guest OS Kits, VMware is helping businesses more quickly enjoy the benefits of Windows XP Professional."

Today's announcement is the latest extension of the ongoing collaboration between VMware and Microsoft. In addition to being a licensed Microsoft Windows OEM vendor, VMware is also a member of the Microsoft Certified Partners Program. In September 2001, VMware announced that the Microsoft Solutions & Technical Sales Group is deploying VMware Workstation software for internal use. The Microsoft worldwide technical sales organization uses VMware Workstation as a tool for demonstrating the latest Microsoft products and enterprise solutions.

VMware also has a line of server products designed to enable businesses to logically partition their server resources for server consolidation, capacity planning, and rapid provisioning. The result is better server utilization while ensuring application performance.

Industry Recognition

Numerous publications have honored VMware products, including Computerworld, Infoworld, PC Magazine, Software Development Magazine, Winmag.com, Windows Forest (Japan), and Australian Personal Computer. In a recent review, CNET recommended VMware Workstation for businesses and demanding power users.

About VMware

VMware, Inc. virtualizes computing, dramatically reducing the cost and complexity of delivering enterprise services. The VMware virtualization layer turns your physical computers into a pool of logical computing resources. The resources can then be dynamically allocated to any operating system or application at your choice of granularity. As a result, our customers can use our software to consolidate servers and manage server capacity, rapidly provision, streamline application deployment, guarantee service levels, and speed development and testing. VMware was founded in 1998 and we have more than 750,000 registered users internationally. We're based in Palo Alto, California and we're on the Web at http://www.vmware.com.


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