Quoting from the PlateSpin official announcement:
PlateSpin Ltd today announced that their patent-pending OS Portability PowerX product line is optimized for Microsoft’s current and future virtualization technologies, including Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2, through its licensing of the Microsoft virtual hard disk (VHD) format. Platespin shares with Microsoft a focus on enabling self-managing dynamic systems that deliver higher business value through automation, flexible resource utilization, interoperability and knowledge-based processes. PlateSpin PowerConvert works with Microsoft Virtual Server to optimize the data center by automating migrations and accelerating server consolidation projects. Additionally, PowerConvert is ideal for ensuring business continuity through rapid infrastructure independent recovery, and easing test lab deployment and development.
“Microsoft’s commitment to virtualization is evidenced by their decision to license the VHD format royalty-free, making it easy for vendors, such as PlateSpin, to work effectively with Microsoft Virtual Server 2005,” said Stephen Pollack, PlateSpin CEO. “With a clear roadmap, and the openness of the VHD format licensing, Microsoft is well positioned to grow the adoption of future versions of Windows virtualization technology into production environments in data centers across the world.”
PlateSpin PowerConvert automates the deployment of Microsoft VHDs across the data center infrastructure and completely decouples the software layer making it independent from the hardware it was previously reliant upon.
“Microsoft is licensing the VHD format as royalty free to provide strategic vendors, such as Platespin, the ability to accelerate development on the Virtual Server platform,” said Zane Adam, director of marketing, Windows Server Division, Microsoft Corp. “We are enabling the partner ecosystem to create value-added solutions to the Windows platform. The Microsoft VHD file format, and other standards initiatives, will help ensure a smooth transition to future versions of Windows virtualization technology, and provides cross platform support and an ongoing common format for easier security, management, reliability and migration.”
Multi-directional migrations are made possible with PlateSpin’s underlying OS Portability technology, which performs automated migrations from virtually any source to any target in the data center including physical servers, blade servers, virtual machines, and archive/backup images.
“Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is a critical component in many server consolidation projects that we see today,” said Eric Courville, vice president of Global Sales and Business Development from PlateSpin. “The combination of PlateSpin PowerConvert and Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is a proven solution, and we are working closely with Microsoft to ensure that we leverage their technology today and into the future so that we can offer our customers a market-leading solution for optimizing the data center.”
PlateSpin PowerConvert is available today for use with industry leading server technologies, image archives, and virtualization products including Microsoft Virtual Server. For more information on PlateSpin PowerConvert and its underlying OS Portability technology, please visit www.platespin.com.