Quoting from Enterprise Networks & Servers:
Sun Microsystems Inc. will deliver VMware’s full line of server virtualization capabilities on Sun’s Sun Fire x64 (x86, 64-bit) servers and the Sun StorEdge 6920 system. In addition, Sun and VMware also signed a technology agreement to provide support for the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) as a guest OS on future VMware server and desktop products.
As a result of these agreements, Sun will resell the VMware ESX Server, VMware GSX Server and VMware Workstation products, providing customers purchasing Sun Fire x64 servers or workstations from Sun, such as the single- and dual-core Sun Fire V20z and Sun Fire V40z, with the option of adding the virtualization software to their systems.
Sun joins Dell, HP, IBM, NEC and FSC in offering VMware ESX Server on its servers.
VMware ESX Server is virtual infrastructure software for partitioning, consolidating and managing systems in mission- critical environments. With VMware ESX Server on Sun Fire x64 servers and support for the Solaris OS, IT organizations can extend their options to easily provision new services running on the Solaris 10 OS, Windows and standard Linux distribution operating systems on the same piece of hardware, thus helping to increase utilization of the servers.
VMware customers will be able to take advantage of key features of Solaris 10, including Solaris Dynamic Tracing (Dtrace) and Solaris Containers on any architecture. With technology advances such as enhancements to the network stack and special optimizations for multithreaded x64/x86 architectures, Solaris 10 is powering enterprise applications at record speeds on Sun Fire systems. In addition, the Sun StorEdge 6920 system, Sun’s flagship mid-tier storage system, complements VMware ESX Server by enabling customers to implement cost-effective consolidation initiatives and robust business continuity capabilities.
Enterprises in many industries typically run one application service on one server, and often utilize only 5 to 15 percent of their Linux or Windows server hardware capability. With virtual infrastructure, IT organizations can provision new services, change the amount of resources dedicated to a software service easily and consolidate disparate systems.