CRN published a basic review of most popular virtualization platforms on the market today, assigning a rating to each one:
- 1st – VMware Infrastructure 3
- 2nd – XenSource XenEnterprise 4
- 3rd – SWsoft Virtuozzo 3.5.1
- 4th – Virtual Iron 4.0
Reviewer provided following conclusion:
While all four virtualization solutions accommodate the needs of IT development, VMware stood above the others for providing the best end-to-end virtualized environment specifically designed for development.
The biggest challenge for IT is to build communications between a large team working on the same development project. VMware’s ESX server is built for that, including the most features by far. XenSource’s XenServer is the simplest product to use and has new features that enable it to compete on a more level playing field with VMware and SWsoft. XenEnterprise is price-competitive and also scales higher than VMware’s enterprise solution.
SWsoft offers an interface that’s easy to understand, but its capabilities don’t rise to the level many development teams would require. Virtual Iron’s interface just wasn’t friendly enough for engineers to build simple workflows.
Simply put, systems integrators and application providers can certainly use all four products to develop and test systems but on more complex distributed infrastructures, they will be hard-pressed to meet deadlines without VMware’s Lab Manager to monitor workflow, integration schedules and code assets.
Read the whole comparison at the source.