Server Virtualization Blog (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} virtuozzo) wrote,@ 2007-02-09 19:19:00 |
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| Entry tags: | os virtualization, server virtualization, swsoft, virtualization, virtuozzo |
VMware goes public
Yesterday, EMC announced its plans to sell 10% of VMware in an IPO. It attracted so much attention I decided to throw my 2 cents into the pile of news hype. OK, trying to be brief:
- VMware’s IPO is definitely a sign that virtualization market is quickly going from red-hot to white-hot, which is very good news for any virtualization vendor. Especially for the two-in-one company like SWsoft with Virtuozzo and Parallels.
- A 10% sale makes VMware about as much independent from EMC as Parallels is from SWsoft. It’s unlikely that EMC competitors - IBM, HP, Fujitsu and others - will now consider VMware a much better partner candidate.
- Going public means having a solid long-term strategy. Yet, so far, the EMC/VMware merger has been a financial move. VMware has not done much to integrate its product line with EMC, and has mostly acted on its own.
The last point brings us back to the question – will virtualization become an integral part of existing platforms or a platform on its own? VMware apparently is going for the latter, putting itself against Microsoft and Linux – so far successfully. However, in just a couple of years, with Viridian/Xen hypervisors and Virtuozzo integrated into existing platforms and a number of management vendors supporting multiple virtualization technologies, it will be a very different game.
