Akimbi markets a system that helps software QA teams test software on a broad mix of software/hardware permutations by using server virtualization technology. The company already supports VMWare ESX Server and Microsoft Virtual Server.
Specifically, Akimbi is joining VMware’s Community Source program. It’s VMware’s s answer to the emergence of open source, and specifically, the Xen open source project. The goal is to get more third party support in a program that lowers barriers to entry compared to conventional partnerships.
Akimbi joins roughly a dozen vendors in the VMWare program, which was only announced last summer, and, according to Raghu Raghuram, VMWare vice president of platform products, now emerging out of pilot mode. Raghuram claims that VMWare has drawn interest in the program from roughly a hundred other vendors.
According to Akimbi CEO James Phillips, the goal of joining the VMWare program is to speed development of products for the VMWare ESX platform. For instance, it will move up by a number of months the release of new capabilities, such as managing OS images inside VMWare from a remote browser, or performing routine maintenance like changing IP address settings, which require direct interacts with VMWare BIOS (Basic Input/Output System).
Phillips emphasizes that signing onto the VMWare Community Source program does not constitute making a strategic bet on VMWare as its preferred platform. Nonetheless, it will gain faster access to the internals of VMWare compared to Microsoft’s rival product.
Akimbi plans to continue Microsoft support and, further down the pike, add support for the XEN open source virtualization project.
