GSX Server Protects Apps, OSes

The new GSX Server from VMware allows standard Intel-based servers to be partitioned into multiple virtual Windows servers, an effort that allows multiple low-end servers to be consolidated into a single box.

Running multiple virtual machines on a physical server allows the operating system and application to remain protected even if one of the virtual servers goes down, says Susan Thomas, vice president of marketing at the company, based here.

"Some inherent instability is masked with virtual machines," she says.

List price for the software is $2,499 per physical server.

GSX makes sense given today's tight IT budgets, says Jeff Jamieson, regional vice president of esavio, a Devon, Pa.-based solution provider. "A lot of people put their projects on hold," he says. "But now they don't have to buy as many servers as they thought before."

GSX allows applications to be built, tested and deployed easily by copying the virtual server file from one virtual server to another, he says. "And if a system gets locked, there's no need to rebuild it," he says. "This makes it easy to find a problem."

Fred Fleury, COO of Tensor Information Systems, a Fort Worth, Texas-based solution provider, says GSX will be useful as Intel's Itanium processors proliferate.