VMware adopts an almost dismissive attitude towards its rivals' efforts

In the same week that the biggest earthquake in 25 years rumbled across the UK landscape, Citrix was hoping to cause similar seismic shifts in the virtualisation space.

However, unlike myself, who was awoken in a state of panic in the early hours of the morning last Wednesday as my house shook to its foundations, VMware is remaining calm in the face of pressure and is adopting an almost dismissive attitude towards its rivals’ efforts.

Citrix, fresh from its recent acquisition of XenSource, picked the first VMworld event to be held in Europe to launch a full-scale attack on VMware’s top position in the market and to announce its own expansion plans.

A shrewd move indeed ­ why pay for your own event when you can piggyback someone else’s?
It seems as though the industry has been hyping the benefits of virtualisation for eternity, but in reality take-up of the technology has only recently gathered momentum and has become the buzzword of the past year.

VMware has enjoyed more or less a monopoly in this space, posting 100 per cent growth year on year and enjoying immense success. However, its crown seems to be slipping as the likes of Microsoft and Citrix start breathing down its neck, and the vendor is predicting just 50 per cent growth for 2008.

Citrix is determined to give VMware a run for its money, signing five distributors and doubling its partner base in less than a year to push for not only a greater share of the existing market, but to capitalise on new opportunities as well.

Although the result will probably be considerably less physically devastating than an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale, it will certainly cause some tremors that will be felt throughout the channel.