VMware debuts ISV network

06.06.2005
Von Ed Scannell

VMware on Monday launched an online virtual infrastructure and resource center for corporate and third-party developers that is intended to help speed applications development and testing.

The company launched a Web site that has a range of different pre-built, preconfigured virtual machines from several companies including BEA Systems, MySQL, Novell, Oracle, and Red Hat as well as the startup SpikeSource. The virtual machines reportedly will make the process of building and testing applications less time-consuming, allowing developers to carry out tasks such as provisioning, configuring, testing, and restoring applications, according to company officials.

Also on Monday the company will unveil its VMTN Subscription service, which will present developers with a suite of products, support, and upgrades for a yearly price of US$299 per user. The service is designed to provide a more consistent virtualization platform for development and testing that should increase productivity and efficiency across the breadth of a software development cycle, as well as serve to reduce cost and improve quality, company officials said.

The subscription service gives developers access to VMware"s Workstation Edition, GSX Server, and ESX Server Developer Edition with Virtual SMP that accommodates team collaboration. The service is expected to be available June 13. The pre-built application environments will also be available for free download on www.vmtn.net  on June 13. 

VMware believes users are gravitating more toward virtual machines because it helps them promote application best practices into the software they distribute and as well as simplify the out-of-box experience for those developers looking to build and test applications on a new platform.

"Right now we have about 90 percent of our test and production servers in virtual machines. We find it allows us to get more out of our hardware and to do so some things we would not be able to do on physical hardware," said Steve Beaver, systems analyst for Greenberg Trauig, the country"s eighth largest law firm.