Software vendor VMware is teaming with leading IT companies to work on open virtualization standards, the company announced last week. As part of those efforts, VMware will provide its partners with access to its VMware ESX Server source code and interfaces under a program called VMware Community Source.
Software vendor VMware is teaming with leading IT companies to work on open virtualization standards, the company announced last week. As part of those efforts, VMware will provide its partners with access to its VMware ESX Server source code and interfaces under a program called VMware Com”munity Source.
VMware’s partners include Advanced Micro Devices, BMC Software, Computer Associates, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Novell and Red Hat. The partners will be able to influence the development of VMware’s ESX Server through a collaborative development model, the company says.
Under a royalty-free license, the VMware partners will be able to contribute shared code or create binary modules to help with interoperability and integration. There will be an architecture board to help manage partners’ contributions.
Focused on x86 server virtualization, VMware is an independent subsidiary of storage giant EMC. At EMC’s recent analyst day in New York, VMware President Diane Greene said she expects VMware to clear between $350 million and $400 million in revenue, with corporate customer numbers reaching 20,000 this year. VMware is growing as fast as Oracle did in the 1980s and hit the $100 million revenue mark about as quickly, she said.
The company has millions of users at the desktop level, and its software has the same code base for its desktop and server products, allowing PC users to easily scale up to the server level, she said.
Last week, Greene talked about the need to further “proliferate the VMware platform” and create a “virtualization ecosystem.” She says the Community Source move fits into that strategy.
As its first contribution to Community Source, the company will make available its Virtual Machine Hypervisor Interfaces (VMHI) framework. VMware defines hypervisors as a base component of virtual infrastructure that facilitates system partitioning.
The company hopes VMHI will focus on the development of cross-platform operational and management frameworks, cooperative virtualization APIs among hypervisors and operating systems, and formats enabling VM migration and recovery across platforms.
