Tuesday, 18 July 2006

Microsoft Allies with Open Source Backer XenSource

Microsoft has announced that will cooperate with XenSource Inc. on the development of technology to provide interoperability between Xen-enabled Linux and the new Microsoft Windows hypervisor technology-based Windows Server virtualisation.

The resulting technology would allow computers to rub on the upcoming version of MS Windows Server operating system, code-named ‘Loghorn’, on computers that are simultaneously running on Linux software.

"Xen-enabled guests will run seamlessly on XenEnterprise now, and, as a result of this agreement, Xen-enabled Linux guests will also run on Windows Server virtualization. XenSource will also deliver additional products based on the collaboratively developed technology, further expanding the value of the relationship," said Peter Levine, president and CEO of XenSource.

The joint efforts between the two companies will deliver the following customer benefits:

• Interoperability by design through collaborative development of two leaders in virtualization technology
• A flexible, high-performance and more reliable virtualization solution with Windows Server ‘Longhorn,’ optimized to support heterogeneous software environments and a wide array of hardware
• Microsoft technical support for issues regarding interoperability with Xen-enabled Linux guest operating systems through the standard Microsoft technical support process