VMware Pledges To Support 64-Bit Extended Windows, Linux Over Next 18 Months

VMware has pledged to support the 64-bit extended architectures of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel for its virtual machine software running on both Windows and Linux over the next 18 months.

To start off, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based subsidiary of EMC will release later this quarter an update to its recently released VMware Workstation 4.5 product that supports 32-bit and 64-bit host operating systems.

Furthermore, over the 2004-2005 time frame, VMware plans to offer 64-bit extended support for its GSX and ESX server software.

HP said it will work with VMware to offer its virtual infrastructure software on its recently debuted Proliant server based on AMD's Opteron processor and future Intel's Xeon Extended Memory 64-based systems.

The software will allow 64-bit applications such as databases to be virtualized. It will support both Microsoft's 64-bit Windows Extended, now in beta testing, and 64-bit extended versions of Linux, said Michael Mullany, vice president of marketing at VMware.

VMware's support for 64-bit extensions will allow users to mix 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and workloads on a single server. It will also allow customers to virtualize 64-bit memory-intensive data-mining applications, and large databases in virtual machines.

It's still early for 64-bit processor technology, but the ability to have virtualization capabilities for extended architectures of AMD64 and Intel EM64T will be useful, says David Crosbie, CEO of Leostream, a Burlington, Mass. ISV, whose Virtual Machine Controller software manages virtual machine software from VMware and Microsoft.

"We see 64 bit as a very key enabling technology for virtualization," said Crosbie. "Essentially it really opens up the memory-space problem. Virtual machines are almost always memory, not processor limited, so you could add another virtual to the server but you [would] have run out of memory space. It also enables much more powerful applications to run as virtual machines, especially database servers."