Ingram deal expands VMware distribution

Ingram Micro, the largest distributor of computing products to retailers, computer makers and other businesses, has signed a deal to include VMware's software in its portfolio, the companies will announce Tuesday. VMware makes software that lets servers or workstations run several operating systems simultaneously, a feature useful for quickly testing software on different systems or separating one server task from another.

Ingram Micro will distribute VMware's Workstation and GSX Server products, both of which run on top of a host operating system. The higher-performance and more expensive ESX server, which VMware sells directly to customers, doesn't use a host operating system.