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VMware Advances Foundation for Cloud Computing With VMware vSphere 4.1 and Expanded Virtualization Management Portfolio

VMware Advances Foundation for Cloud Computing With VMware vSphere 4.1 and Expanded Virtualization Management Portfolio

Enhanced Platform Delivers Performance, Efficiency at Scale for Public and Private Cloud Infrastructures

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 13, 2010 — VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop through the datacenter and to the cloud, today announced VMware vSphere™ 4.1, the latest version of the award-winning VMware virtualization platform, as well as an expanded portfolio of virtualization management solutions. VMware once again sets the bar in virtualization, coupling dramatic scalability and performance enhancements with new management capabilities to deliver the most powerful foundation for cloud computing.

 “Strategically, server virtualization is an IT modernization catalyst that will change how IT is acquired, consumed, managed, sourced and paid for. Virtualization will even change how businesses innovate and grow,” said Thomas Bittman, VP Distinguished Analyst at Gartner. “Done well, server virtualization makes fundamental changes that can lead an organization down the path of private and public cloud computing.”

Cloud computing represents a new model for the way IT services are developed, provisioned and consumed.  VMware virtualization enables enterprises and service providers to lay the foundation for cloud computing by aggregating an elastic pool of computing resources that can be accessed on-demand while enabling policy-based automation and management to increase efficiency.   VMware vSphere 4.1 and the VMware vCenter™ product family are cornerstone solutions for customers and service providers building private and public cloud environments. As such, these technologies have attracted a broad partner ecosystem of industry leaders that support and extend this foundation. Read more about partner ecosystem support for VMware vSphere 4.1.

“Virtualization occupies an increasingly central position within IT strategy as the cornerstone of modern infrastructures and the foundation for cloud computing,” said Raghu Raghuram, senior vice president and general manager, virtualization and cloud platforms, VMware. “As the market leader, VMware vSphere™ is redefining the economics of computing, while helping customers to achieve the levels of utilization and automation that underpin the promise of cloud computing.” 

VMware vSphere 4.1 Advances the Foundation for Cloud Computing

With groundbreaking new memory management and expanded resource pooling capabilities, VMware vSphere 4.1 promises to accelerate the evolution of datacenters and service providers into cloud computing environments, setting the standard for key tenets of cloud computing: 

  • 2X larger resource pools with 3X the management power. Already the most powerful virtualization platform on the market, VMware vSphere 4.1 includes dramatic scalability enhancements, enabling customers to aggregate twice the computing resources within a single pool. VMware vCenter Server can now manage up to 10,000 concurrently powered on VMs – three times as many as before. 
  • Up to 25% better performance and reduced cost per application.With the addition of new memory compression technology, VMware vSphere 4.1 preserves the performance of systems under heavy load, resulting in up to 25% better performance over previous approaches. Memory compression also contributes to further increased consolidation ratios in VMware vSphere. Already the highest consolidation levels in the market, this increase reduces customers’ cost-per-application, a critical measure of value delivered through virtualization.
  • 5X faster virtual machine migrations for increased agility. Speed and scale enhancements to VMware vMotion™ deliver superior platform response and availability by migrating virtual machines up to five times faster and enabling up to eight concurrent vMotion events per server pair.
  • New network and storage I/O controls deliver Quality of Service guarantees. VMware vSphere 4.1 introduces new controls that allow better alignment of storage and network I/O resources to business priority. VMware vSphere network and storage I/O controls provide granular control over how applications access shared storage and network resources. Administrators can set quality of service priorities per virtual machine and VMware vSphere 4.1 automatically manages resource allocation accordingly.
  • Increased performance through open integration with storage environments. VMware vSphere 4.1 already supports more operating systems, devices, applications, and service providers than any other virtualization solution. With the introduction of new VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI), VMware vSphere 4.1 enables tighter integration with solutions from VMware’s storage partners to increase the efficiency and performance of the platform in cloud environments.  

“Over the past two and a half years as we’ve significantly reduced IT cost and complexity while increasing efficiency, VMware has become a central part of our IT strategy,” said Brad Blake, CTO at Boston Medical Center. “VMware vSphere™ has proven its ability to handle the most demanding applications and scale to support an increasing percentage of our infrastructure.  Through VMware’s continued innovation and vision, VMware vSphere has become the foundation for our cloud computing strategy.”

"With this release, VMware has once again raised the bar in virtualization," said Rob Zelinka, Director of Infrastructure at TTX. "As we increasingly virtualize more of our production systems and mission-critical applications, advancements like memory compression and storage and network I/O controls ensure that we can maintain - or improve - service levels while creating a more flexible, scalable and cost-effective infrastructure."

See a complete list of VMware vSphere 4.1 enhancements and features.

Expanded Management Portfolio and Licensing Model for Cloud Environments

VMware vCenter helps customers further reduce complexity of their IT environment while increasing operational efficiency through policy-based management of provisioning, deployment, and performance optimization. VMware has broadened its management portfolio to deliver a complete set of solutions to automate the management of dynamic virtualized systems. Today VMware is introducing:

  • VMware vCenter Configuration Manager (formerly EMC Ionix Application Stack Manager and EMC Ionix Server Configuration Manager) ensures policy based compliance and avoids configuration drift by automating manual configuration tasks across virtual and physical servers and workstations.
  • VMware vCenter Application Discovery Manager (formerly EMC Ionix Application Discovery Manager) quickly and accurately maps application dependencies to accelerate datacenter moves, precisely plan infrastructure consolidations, and confidently virtualize business-critical applications. 

VMware is also introducing a new per VM licensing model for the VMware vCenter management solutions. This new model aligns licensing costs to the number of virtual machines being managed, rather than to the physical hardware. As virtualization and cloud computing become more prevalent models of IT infrastructure, the virtual machine is rapidly becoming the standard measure of infrastructure deployments. In a virtualized environment, the hardware configuration is abstracted and changes frequently due to virtual machine migrations across the datacenter, making hardware-based licensing complex. The new virtual machine-based licensing model for VMware vCenter offers customers better alignment between software costs and benefits delivered. This new model will also better support customers’ needs to port computing environments across diverse hardware configurations, including multiple CPU scenarios, without incurring additional costs. This new licensing model will be in effect on September 1, 2010 for VMware vCenter products only.

Pricing and Availability

VMware vSphere 4.1 is currently available in packages and prices that address the widest range of customer requirements, from Small and Mid-size Business solutions starting at $83 per processor to full enterprise editions for the most demanding environments at $3,495 per processor. More information on VMware vSphere 4.1 editions and prices.

VMware vCenter AppSpeed, VMware vCenter Chargeback, and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager will be sold in VM packs on a per VM basis starting on September 1, 2010. VMware vCenter Application Discovery Manager and VMware vCenter Configuration Manager are already licensed on both a per VM and physical server model. Per VM licensing for VMware vCenter CapacityIQ will take effect in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Additional Resources

Read VMware CTO Steve Herrod’s blog on VMware vSphere 4.1
Read VMware VP of Marketing Bogomil Balkansky’s blog on today’s news
Learn more about VMware vSphere 4.1
Learn more about the VMware vCenter family of products

About VMware

VMware delivers virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes. With the industry leading virtualization platform – VMware vSphere™ – customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2009 revenues of $2.9 billion, more than 170,000 customers and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization which consistently ranks as a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.


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VMware, VMware vCenter and VMware vSphere are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. The use of the word “partner” or “partnership does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements made in this press release which are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements and are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relate, but are not limited, to the impact of server virtualization on IT and its effect on business, the future role of virtualization and our vSphere product in IT infrastructure and cloud computing and the ability of businesses to realize the benefits of cloud computing.   Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in consumer or information technology spending; (iii) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, industry consolidation, entry of new competitors into the virtualization market, and new product and marketing initiatives by our competitors; (iv) our customers’ ability to develop, and to transition to, new products and computing strategies such as cloud computing, (v) the uncertainty of customer acceptance of emerging technology; (vi) rapid technological and market changes in virtualization software and platforms for cloud computing; and (vii) our ability to protect our proprietary technology.

These forward looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that we may file from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. VMware disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

[1] Gartner, Inc "Server Virtualization: One Path That Leads to Cloud Computing," Thomas Bittman, October 29, 2009.