VMware Technology: Its Place in Current Computing
The idea of virtual machine monitors is an old one, first used widely in the IBM mainframe systems of the 1960s and 1970s. Although the capabilities of these monitors to multiplex highly expensive 1970s hardware among multiple users and environments is no longer a compelling motivation for today's users, this same approach can be used to multiplex, control, and manage complex and expensive software environments on commodity hardware platforms. VMware has based its new technology on this approach and has modernized and enhanced the virtual machine monitor. Now, for the first time, VMware allows virtual machine technology to be mass deployed cost-effectively so that anyone using a PC can afford and benefit from it.
The VMware virtual machine approach also fits in well with current hardware trends. Today's faster processors mean that virtual machines have lower overheads, while multiprocessors reduce the load on CPUs that are supporting several active virtual machines. Similarly, the larger memory and disks that are available today lower the cost of storing multiple environments. And finally, it is now standard to have high-speed network connectivity, which allows virtual machines to communicate with one another and with the "real" world, and to migrate from one operating environment to another.
VMware Virtual Platform installs like an application program and requires no special hardware support - just a typically configured, Intel Pentium-based or compatible system. With VMware Virtual Platform, users can run multiple operating systems unmodified, each in separate virtual environments, each with its own network address.
Through its in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of 80x86™ and Pentium technology, VMware Virtual Platform avoids the performance penalties inherent in traditional approaches to running multiple operating environments concurrently, such as OS emulation or simulation. Since multiple operating systems can co-exist on VMware Virtual Platform, users can quickly and easily launch multiple environments, without the inconvenience and expense associated with disk partitioning or rebooting. To exploit the advantages of VMware Virtual Platform, users need only be running on an Intel Pentium compatible system with minimum memory and disk configurations.
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