Oracle has displayed its free open-source virtualisation software

At its annual OpenWorld event in San Francisco, Oracle unveiled free
open-source virtualisation software designed to help firms manage their
virtual servers.

Oracle VM is based on the Xen hypervisor, and supports Linux and Windows
systems. It features an integrated management console that IT staff can
access via a web browser to create and manage virtual server pools.

According to the vendor, the software is easy and quick to install – but
perhaps most attention-grabbing is the claim from Oracle that the software
is “three times more efficient that other server virtualisation products” –
although further details on the performance and competing products were not
given.

Introducing the product to the 43,000 delegates attending OpenWorld, Oracle
president Charles Phillips said, “This is our context of virtualisation.
It’s a single environment for managing virtualisation and Linux.” He added
that complexity of IT environments was one of the biggest problems still
facing customers, and so products such as Oracle VM were aimed at making it
easier for firms to gain a unified view and management point for their IT
assets.

Oracle VM will be available to download for free this Wednesday from here. For firms wanting Oracle VM with enterprise support, per-system charges are applied.

Pricing for a system with up to two CPUs is $499 about 250 pounds) per year
per system, while for unlimited CPUs this increases to $999 (about 500
pounds) per year.