Virtualisation software vendor VMware is preparing to announce a range of products that allow customers to virtualise storage resources and networking equipment.

To date, VMware’s tools have been focused on server virtualisation. But competition in the virtualisation software market is intensifying – especially since software giant Microsoft has entered the fray – and VMware is looking to diversify its product range.

The company is preparing to announce a raft of new products at its annual VMworld user conference that takes place in Las Vegas this week. These new tools, slated for release in 2009, will form the basis of what VMware described as a ‘virtual data centre operating system’.

By this it means not a single software platform, but a collection of tools that allow companies to provision and manage all data centre resources on a virtual basis.

vNetwork will allow users to create ‘virtual switches’, meaning they can connect virtual servers to a network as though they were a single node, rather than using multiple switches. vStorage will help organisations apply ‘thin provisioning’ to their storage deployments.

Other forthcoming products include vClient, a thin client desktop virtualisation product, and vCloud, a tool that helps organisations deliver data centre services over the web.

Further reading

Virtualising the desktop
The delivery of desktop services from a virtual PC estate within the data centre is a core ambition of many IT organisations

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