The company claims that its server virtualization platform supports both Oracle and non-Oracle applications in addition to Linux and Windows guest operating systems. Oracle applications supported on the new Oracle VM platform include Oracle Application Server 10gR2 and 10gR3, Oracle Berkeley DB 4.6, Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10 and 12, and Oracle Siebel CRM 8.0.
Customers can now optimize resource consolidation by deploying Oracle VM with Oracle Unbreakable Linux, and run the full Oracle software stack – Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Enterprise Manager and Oracle Applications – all with one worldwide support call, said Edward Screven, chief corporate architect at Oracle.
Virtualization software allows companies to save costs by optimizing the usage of computer resources and helps its customers save costs including electricity, space in data centers, and maintenance fees.
According to Reuters, the virtualization software market is dominated by VMware, an affiliate of EMC Corp. Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, said: This tells us that the virtualization market will not belong to VMware. One of the players will be Oracle.
This launch has increased the competition for software virtualization company VMware. According to infoworld, Parag Patel, vice president of alliances at VMware said: The offering does not address the capabilities required to achieve the cost savings and IT simplification that customers are realizing everyday from VMware’s Virtual Infrastructure. It is also an unproven offering and lacks features that VMware customers value and view as key to a virtualization deployment, including high availability, integration with third-party backup software and extensive hardware certifications.
VMware has also enhanced its products by releasing VMware Fusion 1.1, an upgrade of its virtualization software for Intel -based Macs on November 12, 2007. The upgrade includes support for Leopard, the latest version of the Mac OS X operating system and is expected to run Mac OS X and Windows applications simultaneously.
Other players in the virtualization market such as HP has also enhanced its software by introducing new features on November 12, 2007 to lower the amount of manpower and resources needed to operate a computer data center. HP has also introduced new virtualization products for data centers, filled with computer hardware for storing, managing and disseminating electronic data.
Dell has marked its presence in the virtualization industry by acquiring a virtualization company, Equallogic, for $1.4 billion on November 5, 2007. IBM also has significant operations in this area.
Oracle VM will be available for free download starting November 14, 2007. The company plans to sell the solution in the price range of $499 to $999 per year in case of service contracts.
Source: ComputerWire daily updates
