VMware Releases ESX Server 1.5

Virtual computing software vendor VMware Tuesday released VMware ESX Server 1.5, the latest version of its virtual machine software for server consolidation.

VMware ESX Server 1.5 is being positioned for data centers, while the vendor touts the product’s capability to enable enterprises to implement server consolidation, guarantee service levels, and deliver cost-effective high availability

Virtual computing software vendor VMware Tuesday released VMware ESX Server 1.5, the latest version of its virtual machine software for server consolidation.

According to VMware, ESX Server 1.5 consolidates applications and infrastructure services running on diverse operating systems onto fewer highly scalable enterprise-class servers. The server offers enterprises the option of creating an Enterprise Service Provider model by delivering guaranteed server resources for CPU, memory, network bandwidth, and disk I/O at optimum performance levels, thus improving service to internal and external customers. By supporting SCSI reservations, VMware ESX Server 1.5 enables the clustering of virtual machines inside the same system for development and test purposes, or between systems for high availability.

With these enhancements, VMware is claiming a potential savings of 29 percent to 64 percent in total cost of ownership for customers. Hardware-related reductions will range from 28 percent to 53 percent, and operations cost reductions will range from 72 percent to 79 percent.

“Server consolidation is becoming paramount among businesses looking to get the most from their technology investments,” said Diane Greene, president and chief executive officer of VMware. “This is especially true as most servers are being used at only 10 percent to 35 percent capacity. VMware server products help businesses manage these investments better than before, enabling them to do more with less.”

VMware ESX Server 1.5 supports up to 3.6 GB of RAM per virtual machine, additional Gigabit Ethernet network cards, and popular SAN configurations. It also supports up to 64 concurrent virtual machines with adequate memory and storage resources, as well as physical address extension standard for larger memory on the physical computer and system memory for up to 64 GB of RAM.

Other new and enhanced features in VMware ESX Server 1.5 are:

• New resource management capabilities to regulate the amount of disk I/O bandwidth used by each virtual machine
• Improved memory management techniques for configuring and running virtual machines with total memory greater than the amount of physical RAM on the system
• An expanded management interface for monitoring and managing servers and virtual machines

VMware ESX Server 1.5 is ready to ship and can be purchased through a VMware sales rep at sales@vmware.com or +1 877 4VMWARE.

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