Quoting from the VMware official announcement:
VMware, the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems, today announced that VMware Workstation 5, the fifth generation of its powerful desktop virtualization software, received three prestigious awards within the first three months of being released: eWEEK Labs Analyst’s Choice award, PC Magazine Editors’ Choice award and Redmond Magazine’s Most Valuable Product award.
For more than six years, millions have been using VMware Workstation to accelerate software development, testing and deployment and increase product quality. With Workstation, enterprises are able to create a library of virtual machines for x86 operating systems including Windows, Linux, Netware and Solaris x86 that resemble production environments. These virtual machines can then be rapidly provisioned to developers and QA teams so they spend more time developing and testing software and less time configuring the required environment.
VMware Workstation 5 received the eWEEK Labs excellent ratings for its ease of use, feature set and interoperability. eWEEK Labs Senior Writer Anne Chen wrote: “In eWEEK Labs’ tests, VMware Workstation 5 provided a solid platform on which to run multiple operating systems, especially with its marked improvements in memory management. We appreciated the new features, such as the ability to take multiple snapshots, and improvements, such as easier duplication of existing virtual machines.”
Chen continued: “In tests, VMware Workstation 5 showed it would be a good fit for organizations looking to run multiple operating systems on a single machine. By doing so, IT managers can increase productivity while lowering costs for tasks such as software development and testing, technical support and training.”
PC Magazine Labs Lead Analyst Neil J. Rubenking wrote: “A developer who needs to test products under different platforms, a support specialist who must duplicate the caller’s configuration, a software tester who wants to start each test with an identical configuration-all can benefit from VMware Workstation. Version 5 adds some highly noteworthy new features and performance enhancements.”
Redmond Magazine Contributor Jeremy Moskowitz wrote: “VMware Workstation 4.5 was already excellent. It was fast, solid and had all the features I needed to get the job done. Version 5 comes replete with a gaggle of essential new tools and some whiz-bang features.”
Moskowitz continued: “VMware Workstation 5 is a rising superstar in the virtualization world, and the one to beat on the road to virtual stardom.”
VMware Workstation 5 pushes the envelope with new features that address the needs of enterprises building multi-tier applications. The new features in Workstation 5 combined with memory-sharing technology previously available only in data center-class VMware ESX Server make it possible for enterprises to provision multi-tier applications and simulate real-world deployment scenarios on developer desktops. Enterprises can thus offer unmatched flexibility to their development and QA teams.
“We’re honored to have received such strong endorsements from these respected independent reviewers,” said Karthik Rau, director of product management at VMware. “These awards continue to validate VMware’s technological leadership and commitment to innovation in the virtualization software market.”