So there has been tons of talk in the industry about Virtualization technologies. While this concept is FAR from new in Enterprise computing. So, without getting into the history, we are going to take a look at current x86 virtualization software packages. There are really only 3 categories and 3 products that I want to mention in this entry. My reasons for this are varied, just know that there are clearly other packages out there.

1. VMware
2. Microsoft’s Virtualization
3. VirtualIron

VMware

Clearly the market leader in Vitualization, today. They formally support many operating systems, and through a dedicated user base have many “unsupported” operating systems that run just great, including, but not limited to OSx. The feature set is both extraordinary and mature. VMWare continues to release new features that make things like Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity a more affordable reality. While there are tons of positive reviews and feedback on the complete product set, the only kink in the VMWare armor is the licensing model. So to take advantage of all of those great features you are going to have to open your wallet and shell out some serious cash. Oh, one more thing, it does run on Linux under the covers which means there might be some complex troubleshooting if someone needs to get under the covers to resolve an issue, or recover a data set.

BEST FIT: Medium/Large Enterprise customers with Windows and Linux OS requirements

Microsoft’s Virtualization Suite

It is obvious that if you are a Windows only IT shop, then why wouldn’t you take a serious look at Microsoft’s virtualization. While it has taken Microsoft several years to release what I would consider to be a serious virtualization platform (anyone who has played with Virtual Desktop & Virtual Server would know what I’m referring to), it appears they might have finally gotten it right. Is it as feature rich at VMWare’s ESX platform? No! it is however, a great base platform for anyone running a Windows only shop and wants to walk the server consolidation line. It is also priced much more aggressively then it’s biggest competitor VMWare. So what are the cons? It lacks some of the really cool Business Continuity features that VMWare is so proud of, and it also will have limited support for the diehard Linux OSs that are out there. Lastly, it run a newly designed Windows core operating system that only time will prove to be stable and reliable.

BEST FIT: Small/Medium/Large Enterprise customer with a Windows ONLY requirement

VirtualIron

Who are they? They are a great smaller virtualization company leveraging some of the readily available Open Source base virtualization code out there. They bring to the table some amazing features, many that rival VMWare’s plethora of functionality. They have great support for both Windows and Linux operating systems. The manageably of the system ranks right up there with everyone else. I cannot stop saying great things about this platform, even the pricing structure is set in a very affordable range. So what is the negative? They are a smaller young company, which by itself isn’t a major concern, however, the product has really been designed and architect to a smaller customer.

BEST FIT: Small/Medium Business and Small Enterprise with a mixed Windows and Linux OS requirement.