X

OpenVZ virtualization heads to Power chips

SWsoft programmers have created a version of the Linux virtualization software that works on Power processors.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
See full bio
Stephen Shankland
SWsoft programmers have created a version of the OpenVZ Linux virtualization software that works on Power processors, the company plans to announce Friday.

OpenVZ lets a single version of the Linux operating system be subdivided into semi-independent domains through a technology called virtualization. OpenVZ is at the heart of SWsoft's Virtuozzo software.

OpenVZ software is useful for increasing Linux server efficiency, but most attention today is devoted to a different technology, Xen, which lets multiple independent operating systems run. The two technologies aren't mutually exclusive, but adopting even one of them involves significant changes to administration policies and practices.

OpenVZ already worked on x86 and Itanium processors, but programmers modified it to work on Power chips, used formerly in Apple Computer's Macintoshes but now most often found in IBM System p servers. IBM, which is encouraging Linux programmers to bring their software to Power-based computers, provided hardware to support the new version, an SWsoft representative said.

The Power software so far is available only in the development version of OpenVZ. IBM and Freescale Semiconductor make Power processors.

Software that runs on multiple server types is useful for Linux sellers such as Red Hat or Novell, which sell products for a variety of machines. SWsoft is trying to make OpenVZ a standard part of the heart of Linux.