VMware on Monday unveiled a new version of its server-virtualization suite that provides increased automation, availability and performance, the company says.

VMware Infrastructure 3, which is expected to be available later this year, will include VMware ESX Server 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5 and also offer new pricing and packaging targeted at small and midsize businesses.

New capabilities of VMware Infrastructure 3 include support for Serial ATA local storage, 10GB Ethernet and Infiniband. Additionally the software now supports TCP Segment offload and jumbo frames to reduce CPU overhead, hardware nested page tables for virtualization of memory, support for paravirtualized Linux guest operating systems and support for virtual machines with 64GB of RAM and physical machines with up to 128GB of memory.

VMware Infrastructure 3 includes VMware Storage VMotion, which allows IT administrators to move virtual-machine disks across data stores for maintenance or rebalancing of storage workloads. The software includes VMware Guided Consolidation, which helps with the initial installation and configuration of virtual machines. 

A third component, the VMware Update Manager allows IT administrators to track patch levels and apply current security patches and bug fixes across their environment. VMware Update Manager has an automated update and remediation process that works on all hosts and virtual machines, regardless of whether they are powered off or in a suspended state.

The software includes VMware Distributed Power Management, which allows IT to reduce power consumption by powering off unneeded servers and powering them on when their resources are needed.

VMware Infrastructure 3 Standard is expected to be $3,000 per two processors. VMware Infrastructure 3 Enterprise will be $5,750 per two processors.