VMware Preps Virtualization Solution For Intel Macs

Palo Alto, Calif.-based VMware, an EMC company, is scheduled to demonstrate early code at the conference Monday and move the new product into beta testing later this year.

The as-yet unnamed software will allow Intel-based Mac systems to run x86 operating systems--including Windows, Linux, NetWare and Solaris--on virtual machines simultaneously running Apple's Mac OS X operating system.

In the future, virtual machines created using any of VMware's products will run on Intel Macs, a company spokesperson said. Additionally, non-Mac OS X virtual machines created with VMware's upcoming Mac OS X offering will run on VMware's latest products.

Such a solution would benefit the many partners that support multiple operating systems and many customers that have both Windows and Mac systems in-house.

One Microsoft solution provider, for instance, said he likes the new Intel-based systems and Apple's hardware design, but he will stick with Windows as an operating system.

"The Mac I have has Mac OS X on one side and [Windows] Vista on the other side," said Ken Winell, principal of ExpertCollab, Florham Park, N.J. "But I'm only going Apple hardware, not software."