Sun is trying to do just that, encouraging the programmers of the world to focus on how many Java environments, called "virtual machines," exist, not how many Windows computers exist. In terms of total shipments of Java virtual machines, we are...
The types of investments you make in capital changed," he said. With Virtual Iron's software, a single copy of the Linux operating system can span several machines, the company says. Virtual Iron has raised $20m in two rounds of investment from...
EMC subsidiary VMware has a head start of years, already supports virtual machines that use up to two physical processors, and will receive four-processor support by the end of 2005. Another is faster networking links among different virtual...
Load balancing involves creating a cluster of servers - a group of separate physical machines that are configured with the same applications and work like one logical server. Note that some server applications are not compatible with load balancing.
That separation lets many operating systems be shoe-horned onto a single server for greater efficiency, and it increasingly also permits higher-level tasks, such as shifting virtual machines off of over-taxed physical machines.
To do it right means successfully managing and automating mixed physical and virtual environments. The ProLiant BL495c was described by HP as the "world's first server blade designed specifically to host virtual machines".