EMC is selling 10 percent of VMware stock in an initial public offering, the company announced Wednesday. However, EMC has no plans to spin off the virtualization specialist, it noted.
"VMware is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the history of the software industry. We expect the IPO to unlock more of VMware's value for EMC shareholders while also strengthening its ability to retain and attract the software industry's top talent," EMC Chief Executive Joe Tucci said in a statement.
VMware's virtualization software lets a single computer run multiple operating systems at the same time, a task useful for consolidating work onto a smaller number of more efficiently used servers. The company has been moving gradually toward higher-level software for managing this virtual infrastructure.
EMC acquired VMware in January 2004 for $625 million, but has operated it as an independent but wholly owned subsidiary.
VMware showed off some of the fruits of its Fusion project to bring its virtualization software to Apple Computer's Intel-based Macs on Tuesday at the Macworld show in San Francisco.
The software lets Linux, Windows, Solaris and NetWare operating systems run in compartments called virtual machines on Apple systems, a feature handy for using software not available on Apple machines or for programmers or testers who need to use multiple products.
The final version of the software will ship in the summer, at which point VMware will announce prices, the company said. The beta version is freely downloadable from the EMC subsidiary's Web site.
Adobe Systems, whose design software is used on Apple and Windows machines, is one company trying out Fusion. "My team maintains a vast library of VMware virtual machine images for developing and testing our software products, and because many of the engineers involved are Mac users, the ability to leverage our existing library was a compelling reason to evaluate the product," said Blake Garner, an Adobe lab systems engineer, in a statement.
VMware, the market-leading virtualization software for x86 computers, released a new beta version of its Workstation 6 software that includes support for Windows Vista.
An announcement to customers last week said Vista can now be used to host other virtual machines using VMware's virtualization software. Virtualization lets multiple operating systems run on the same computer, which can be handy when, for example, older applications won't run on a new operating system.
According to the release notes, the Workstation 6 beta also lets the software use multiple monitors, either with one virtual machine spanning multiple monitors or different VMs on different monitors.
The beta also is integrated with debugging features in Microsoft Visual Studio and the open-source Eclipse programming tools. Also for programmers, the new Workstation can be controlled by scripts that automate testing.
Other features:
• Paravirtualized Linux kernels, such as those for the open-source Xen virtualization software, will run in virtual machines.
• Files and directories can be copied via drag-and-drop between Windows and Linux hosts and guest VMs running Linux, Windows and Solaris.
• VMware Worksation's previous limit to 4GB of memory for all virtual machines has been removed. Individual VMs now may have up to 8GB each, and the total is capped only by how much memory is in the computer.
• Battery information is reported to guest virtual machines.
VMware, an EMC subsidiary that that once had the x86 server virtualization market to itself, released on Friday a technology preview that helps bridge a divide with open-source rival Xen.
Virtualization lets multiple operating systems run on the same machine, a technology that can increase server efficiency. Paravirtualization is related, but in comparison offers higher performance and requires that an operating system be explicitly adapted to the virtualized foundation on which it's running.
VMware's virtualization foundation thus far employs full virtualization, while Xen and an upcoming alternative from Microsoft code-named Viridian employ paravirtualization. VMware's preview technology lets paravirtualized operating systems run on VMware's foundation, the company said.
Currently, the software supports only 32-bit versions of Linux, and USB doesn't work.
EMC is likely to acquire business partner Network Intelligence next week for a price between $170 million to $175 million, a source familiar with the plan said.
Beyond the initial acquisition price, a further payout could elevate the price as high as about $250 million if the company meets future financial goals, the source said. The company's annual revenue is about $20 million to $25 million, the source said.
Network Solutions sells software that converts a company's data into a form useful for audits and regulatory compliance. It already has a partnership with EMC, whose Centera storage system can be used in archiving such data. EMC has been on an acquisition spree, buying several software companies to expand beyond its original storage system specialty.
EMC declined to comment, and Network Intelligence didn't respond to requests for comment.
- prev
- 1
- next
