VMware is preparing its server virtualization software to support dual-core systems and says it plans to charge for the technology per CPU, rather than per core.

"Customers will be able to utilize increased processing power available on these systems at the same cost [as they pay for single-core servers], so they'll be getting more bang for the buck," says Raghu Raghuram, senior director of strategy and market development at VMware.

Raghuram says VMware GSX Server 3.2, expected to be released in the next few weeks, will be the first VMware product to support dual-core systems. Support for dual-core servers in VMware ESX Server and its management product, VirtualCenter, will follow shortly after, Raghuram says. VMware Workstation already supports dual-core processors on the desktop.

Dual-core servers have two processing cores on each CPU. The architecture is being adopted by chip makers as a way to increase performance while keeping a handle on power and heat.

IBM has had a dual-core Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) chip since 2001, and Sun and HP unveiled their dual-core RISC processors early last year. AMD introduced the dual-core Opteron in April. Intel is expected to release its dual-core Itanium chip by year-end and a dual-core Xeon shortly thereafter. It introduced a dual-core Pentium processor earlier this year.

While dual-core systems become the standard for systems vendors - Gartner predicts that chip makers will stop manufacturing single-core processors as early as next year - how quickly they are adopted by business users largely depends on how independent software vendors charge for their software on the dual-core platforms.

In deciding to charge per CPU, rather than per core, VMware joins such vendors as IBM and Microsoft, which also have announced that they will charge per CPU on dual-core x86 systems. Oracle, which had been charging per core, recently altered its licensing policy . Instead of considering each core a single processor, it will consider each core three 0.75 of a processor for software licensing.

"Dual-core processing is very clearly the future. It's going to be as common as the move toward 64-bit x86," says Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT research. "Right now, [dual core] is more of an early adopter thing, but the uptake on 64-bit and how quickly the market has taken to that has alerted companies like VMware to the opportunities here. They are positioning themselves for significant market changes that are just around the corner."