Open Source > VirtualizationEssentials

Virtualization is a hot data center technology that is capturing the attention of IT for its consolidation and cost saving potential. As was evidenced at the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco last week, open source and Linux platforms are on the forefront of the trend. In fact, given licensing issues with proprietary software, the combination of inexpensive or free open-source software and virtualization platforms may be the most important vehicle to drive widespread Linux adoption in the data center. Here are seven need-to-know points when looking at open source virtualization technology.

Sun released the code for its open source server-virtualization software Wednesday, and will make a commercial version of the xVM Server available next month.

The last time the founders of Qumranet began a start-up it ended with a $320 million exit. Now they are going after the virtualization market.

Citrix Systems has announced it has completed the acquisition of XenSource, a privately held enterprise virtualization software vendor.

You're now with Qumranet which is the company behind KVM. Can you briefly tell me about the design of KVM and how that differs from previous virtualization approaches such as Xen and VMware?