VMware Unveils VMware Tools as Open Source Software

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VMware, Inc., the virtualization leader, today at VMworld 2007 announced that it has released a majority of VMware Tools as open source software as part of the project Open Virtual Machine Tools. VMware Tools is a set of guest operating system virtualization components that enhance performance and improve management of VMware virtual machines. Open Virtual Machine Tools (open-vm-tools) is hosted at http://open-vm-tools.sourceforge.net, and the source code is available today to enable Linux vendors to integrate open-sourced VMware Tools into upcoming versions of their operating systems.

Open Virtual Machine Tools enables VMware to better support customers by integrating with Linux distribution partners to streamline the delivery, maintenance and support of these guest OS components. This open source project is designed to enable VMware to work with the broader community to make the benefits of virtualization more accessible. Areas of expected collaboration with the community include porting to new operating systems, increasing user involvement in the development and testing process, and creating innovative technologies. Open Virtual Machine Tools is also expected to benefit other open source virtualization projects as well as enable enhanced manageability and performance for VMware virtual appliances.

"VMware has always been a supporter of the Linux and open source communities and is committed to increasing our active participation. With the launch of the Open Virtual Machine Tools project, we are expanding our commitment to open technology initiatives and fostering additional innovation and collaboration," said Dr. Stephen Herrod, vice president of technology development at VMware. "This significant move will also improve our customers' ability to use the latest and diverse guest operating systems as well as pave the way for a wide variety of virtual appliances."

"Open Virtual Machine Tools is an important development that will allow Qualcomm to reduce costs and better support our virtualized Linux deployment," said Paul Poppleton, senior staff IT engineer at Qualcomm. "By working with the open source community, VMware has cleared the way for Linux distributors to integrate VMware Tools within the operating system. This gives us and other companies a significantly more streamlined path in deploying and updating in-guest components. In fact, deploying a Linux guest operating system will be as simple as installing the guest -- no additional steps required."

VMware is also working with operating system vendors including Novell, Red Hat and Ubuntu to integrate open-sourced VMware Tools into the operating system installation process.

"VMware continues to make strides in working with the open source community by opening VMware Tools," said Holger Dyroff, vice president of SUSE Linux Enterprise product management at Novell. "This effort will help Novell's efforts to provide a best-in-class enterprise virtualization operating system. Being able to package and bundle Open Virtual Machine Tools as part of SUSE Linux Enterprise will provide our mutual customers a more seamless and better- supported platform for virtualization."

"We welcome VMware's contribution to open source software," said Scott Crenshaw, vice president, Enterprise Linux Business, Red Hat. "VMware's participation with the community has been consistent, noticeably its efforts around the community development of paravirt-ops, which provides an open interface for Linux virtualization across all hypervisors. The delivery of VMware Tools to the open community delivers greater innovation and customer choice."

"We are very pleased with VMware's demonstrated ability to work with the open source community," said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project. "Open Virtual Machine Tools streamlines the process of providing ISVs with an edition of Ubuntu optimized for virtual appliances that follows the JeOS concept of 'Just Enough Operating System' and allows us to provide end users of the Ubuntu operating system with a compelling out-of-the-box experience. We look forward to the debut of Open Virtual Machine Tools within a future release of Ubuntu."

About VMware, Inc.

VMware is the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems. Organizations of all sizes use VMware solutions to simplify their IT, fully leverage their existing computing investments and respond faster to changing business demands. VMware is based in Palo Alto, California and majority-owned by EMC Corporation. For more information, visit http://www.vmware.com.

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Contact: Nick Fuentes, nfuentes@vmware.com