Microsoft promises bright, complex virtualization future

Viridian lurches forward

Microsoft appears to have done the improbable and pushed forward the release of its revamped server virtualization software.

Redmond is currently in the midst of reworking its virtualization wares. It will throw out the Virtual Server product it currently sells in favor of bundling a layer of virtualization software known as a hypervisor with the Longhorn Server operating system. The move will help Microsoft compete with the likes of VMware and Xen, who have already embraced the hypervisor design.

Up until now, Microsoft had been warning that it could take until 2008 or 2009 to ship the hypervisor, code-named Viridian. The software maker expected to deliver the server-slicing product as part of the first update to Longhorn Server.

Today, however, we learn that Microsoft will start beta testing Viridian by the end of this year and plans to ship a working version of the package six months after Longhorn Server arrives. The server OS is due in the second half of 2007.

Full article: The Register