emc

Cisco Systems said it will pay $150 million for a small stake in a virtualization software company called VMware, which operates as a unit of storage giant EMC.

Cisco's stake in the company will be about 1.6 percent. VMware is the leader in what is turning out to be a hot market. The division makes software that allows a computer or server to function as if it were several. The software emulates features of a computer, which makes it easier to run multiple operating systems and applications on a single machine. Companies benefit because the software allows them … Read more

As we head into the dog days of summer, most technology announcements are lukewarm at best. Usually vendors save their juicy stuff for September and the push toward the end of the year.

With that as a back drop, one announcement last week may have been a curious exception to this rule. Cisco, EMC, and Microsoft got together with a few others and announced the Secure Information Sharing Architecture (SISA). What is SISA? The press release defines it as a "commercial off-the-shelf architecture that was created to make data easily, and securely shared among multinational environments."

Pretty vague, … Read more

It's great to have Mark Lewis blogging. I remember pinging him about OSBC involvement back in 2003 when, as now, his title reflected open source strategy. He then got pulled into some other areas at EMC. He's exceptionally bright and a credit to his employer. Good to have him back, focused on open source issues.

On this particular one - GPLv3 - I think his corporate affiliation may be coloring his opinion somewhat, as he spends too much time worrying about the ability to mingle proprietary code with GPLv3 code.

The newly aggressive provisions about what code combinations must be covered by GPLv3 create cumbersome issues for anyone, proprietary or open, who wants to combine code under another license with GPLv3....… Read more

EMC is selling 10 percent of VMware stock in an initial public offering, the company announced Wednesday. However, EMC has no plans to spin off the virtualization specialist, it noted.

"VMware is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the history of the software industry. We expect the IPO to unlock more of VMware's value for EMC shareholders while also strengthening its ability to retain and attract the software industry's top talent," EMC Chief Executive Joe Tucci said in a statement.

VMware's virtualization software lets a single computer run multiple operating systems at the same time, … Read more

VMware showed off some of the fruits of its Fusion project to bring its virtualization software to Apple Computer's Intel-based Macs on Tuesday at the Macworld show in San Francisco.

The software lets Linux, Windows, Solaris and NetWare operating systems run in compartments called virtual machines on Apple systems, a feature handy for using software not available on Apple machines or for programmers or testers who need to use multiple products.

The final version of the software will ship in the summer, at which point VMware will announce prices, the company said. The beta version is freely downloadable from … Read more

VMware, the market-leading virtualization software for x86 computers, released a new beta version of its Workstation 6 software that includes support for Windows Vista.

An announcement to customers last week said Vista can now be used to host other virtual machines using VMware's virtualization software. Virtualization lets multiple operating systems run on the same computer, which can be handy when, for example, older applications won't run on a new operating system.

According to the release notes, the Workstation 6 beta also lets the software use multiple monitors, either with one virtual machine spanning multiple monitors or different VMs … Read more

VMware, an EMC subsidiary that that once had the x86 server virtualization market to itself, released on Friday a technology preview that helps bridge a divide with open-source rival Xen.

Virtualization lets multiple operating systems run on the same machine, a technology that can increase server efficiency. Paravirtualization is related, but in comparison offers higher performance and requires that an operating system be explicitly adapted to the virtualized foundation on which it's running.

VMware's virtualization foundation thus far employs full virtualization, while Xen and an upcoming alternative from Microsoft code-named Viridian employ paravirtualization. VMware's preview technology lets … Read more

EMC is likely to acquire business partner Network Intelligence next week for a price between $170 million to $175 million, a source familiar with the plan said.

Beyond the initial acquisition price, a further payout could elevate the price as high as about $250 million if the company meets future financial goals, the source said. The company's annual revenue is about $20 million to $25 million, the source said.

Network Solutions sells software that converts a company's data into a form useful for audits and regulatory compliance. It already has a partnership with EMC, whose Centera storage system … Read more

Microsoft is planning management software code-named Carmine to oversee virtualization tasks such as starting, stopping or moving virtual machines, Computer Reseller News reported Tuesday.

The software has only some of the features of rival VMware's VirtualCenter management software, according to an unnamed source in the story. Microsoft declined to comment.

Virtualization lets a single computer run several operating systems at once, a feature that permits greater efficiency when juggling multiple tasks. Microsoft, faced with pressure from EMC's VMware and more recently from the open-source Xen software being built into Red Hat and Novell Linux products, has begun more … Read more