VMware, Inc. unveiled VMware Server 2, the next generation of the company's easy-to-use, free-of-charge virtualization product. VMware Server 2 provides customers with a simple yet powerful introductory experience to virtualization, introduces a new intuitive Web-based management interface to provide a consistent management experience for Linux and Windows users, and supports a broad range of hardware and more than 30 flavors of guest operating systems including various Linux distributions, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.

    Based on VMware's proven and reliable technology, VMware Server 2 enables organizations to quickly provision new server capacity by partitioning a physical server into multiple virtual machines, resulting in better utilization of IT assets and simplified IT management.

    Dan Chu, vice president of emerging products and markets at VMware stated: "VMware Server is ideal for businesses interested in quickly and easily experiencing the benefits of virtualization. More than 3 million copies of VMware Server have been downloaded to date, with approximately 70 percent of these downloads coming from companies typically categorized as small and medium businesses. “

    "We've tried other solutions, but nothing matches the stability and ease of use we get with VMware Server. The software has already provided tremendous value to our organization with minimal investment, and the new Web-based management interface and APIs in the new version will make it even easier for us to increase the overall efficiency of our IT operations," commented said Justin Patten, technical analyst at api software, inc., a provider of labor resource management solutions for healthcare organizations.

    Dan Chu continued: “VMware Server is a popular way for new customers to evaluate and begin using VMware software, and it allows them to easily transition to VMware's market-leading, enterprise-class virtualization platform, VMware Infrastructure. With the release of VMware Server 2, we look forward to introducing many more new customers to a better way to manage their IT resources."

VMware Server 2 beta futures:
    - Intuitive web-based management interface: VMware Server 2 provides a simple, flexible, intuitive and productive management experience. Features include an embedded virtual machine console, full management functionality and the ability to create customized remote console URLs for virtual machine users.
    - Expanded operating system support: VMware Server 2 now supports more than 30 types of guest operating systems, including Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 (beta), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Ubuntu 7.10.
    - Virtual Machine Interface (VMI) support: VMware Server 2 includes support for transparent paravirtualization through VMI, enabling enhanced communication between virtualized operating systems and the virtualization layer.
    - Support for high-speed USB 2.0 devices:  The USB 2.0 support provided by VMware Server 2 allows for increased flexibility for customers using peripheral devices in virtualized environments.
    - Enhanced memory and processor support: VMware Server 2 now supports up to 8 GB of RAM per virtual machine and up to 2 Virtual SMP processors. The product also features support for 64-bit guest operating systems on 64-bit compatible processors for improved performance and scalability.

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