Microsoft’s answer to VMware’s systems-management product will be released commercially in September according to Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer.
These remarks are in contrast to those made by Diane Prescott, product manager for System Center. She said on the team blog that Virtual Machine Manager 2008 would be released in the fourth quarter of 2008. This however contradicted what Microsoft said back in April, that VMM would ship 30-60 days after Hyper-V, which was released on June 26th.
Virtual Machine Manager 2008 is Microsoft’s long-awaited answer to VMware’s systems management product. VMM is the management companion piece to Microsoft’s Hyper-V hypervisor. Not only will VMM support Hyper-V, but also hypervisor technology from VMware and Xen.
With the virtual machine market heating up as IT departments seek to lower costs, Microsoft if battling VMware for corporate buyers. An accelerated release may help position Microsoft strategically in the marketplace.
Screen shot of VMM
