Specifically, GSX Server 3.1 and Workstation 4.5.2 will be released this week in an experimental state with support for the beta version of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2003 for the 64-bit architectures embodied in the Advanced Micro Devices Opteron and Intel Xeon with Extended Memory 64 Technology.
VMware’s expertise is on X86 architectures and until Itanium takes off, EMC is not prepared to invest in supporting Itanium. The 64-bit experimental support for VMware partitions also covers the 64-bit versions of Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux 3 and Novell Inc’s SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8.
Both GSX Server 3.1 and Workstation 4.5.2 are available as free updates to existing customers who want to run in 64-bit mode. Right now, the 64-bit support is an all-or-nothing proposition: customers cannot yet mix 64-bit and 32-bit operating systems as guest environments on 64-bit machines, but this is a feature that VMware is working on for the final release of the product. VMware has not yet said when the commercial support for 64-bits is expected.
