VMware celebrates seven years of continual innovation and execution

VMware was founded in January, 1998 to bring mainframe-class virtual machine technology to industry-standard computers. In 1999, VMware delivered its first product for the desktop, VMware Workstation. VMware Workstation has revolutionized software development by making it possible to develop faster, test more comprehensively and deploy even the most complex enterprise applications in virtual machines. The product is now a de-facto standard for development with more than 2.5 million users.

VMware entered the server market in 2001 with VMware ESX Server and VMware GSX Server. ESX Server and GSX Server are virtual infrastructure software products for partitioning, consolidating and managing computing resources. The products have been adopted by thousands of IT organizations worldwide and have saved customers hundreds of millions of dollars in costs through providing server consolidation, fast provisioning and disaster recovery.

In 2003, VMware introduced 2-Way VMware Virtual SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) that allows virtual machines to span two physical processors, making virtual machines ideal for resource-intensive enterprise applications.

Also in 2003, VMware launched VMware VirtualCenter with groundbreaking VMotion technology, and the company firmly established itself as the thought leader in the fast-growing virtual infrastructure marketplace. VirtualCenter is virtual infrastructure management software that provides a central point of control for virtual computing resources. Using VMotion technology, virtual machines can be migrated while running, allowing for dynamic load balancing and zero-downtime maintenance.

In 2004, VMware delivered the VMware Virtual Infrastructure Software Developer Kit that provides standards-based interfaces that enable ISVs, partners and customers to control VMware virtual infrastructure and to integrate virtual infrastructure deployments into existing management frameworks.

VMware delivered support for 64-bit computing in 2004, once again extending virtualization capabilities for industry-standard platforms. VMware also announced it would deliver 4-Way VMware Virtual SMP, making it possible to extend the benefits of virtual infrastructure to the most demanding enterprise workloads.

Also in 2004, VMware introduced a breakthrough new enterprise desktop management and security product, VMware ACE. VMware ACE is targeted at the problems of contractor, telecommuter and mobile laptop management and enables IT managers to provision secure, standardized PC environments throughout the extended enterprise. With the introduction of VMware ACE, VMware again demonstrated its relentless innovation and aggressive technology leadership.

“In just seven years, VMware has successfully created a new category of software, virtual infrastructure, and is poised to extend our leadership position in this market,” said Diane Greene, president of VMware. “We are an organization that thrives on consistently bringing innovative ideas to market in highly robust and high value products.”

VMware firsts include:

– First to demonstrate the value of virtualization on commoditized platforms
– First to virtualize the x86 architecture (VMware Workstation)
– First to deliver a hosted virtual machine monitor; the hosted architecture integrates a virtual monitor with an existing operating system (VMware Workstation)
– First to enable transparent memory sharing of virtual machines on a commoditized platform (VMware ESX Server)
– First to handle a modern I/O subsystem in a virtualized x86-based system (VMware ESX Server)
– First to enable a single virtual machine to span multiple physical processors on an x86-based system (VMware ESX Server)
– First operating system to support 64-bit extensions on an x86-based system (VMware ESX Server)
– First to enable a running virtual machine to move across physical boundaries (VMware VMotion)
– First to enable automatic conversion of a physical x86-based environment, including the operating system and applications, into a virtual environment (VMware P2V Assistant)
– First to deliver comprehensive Virtual Rights Management technology (VMware ACE)

VMware’s comprehensive virtual infrastructure solutions for enterprise desktops, servers and development and test groups solve the hard problems of efficiency, flexibility and security and provide an easy on-ramp to next generation computing models.

Key facts about VMware: