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Vmware ESX3i Free!

Wednesday, 23 July 2008 by Michel Roth

Yesterday, VMware during a conference call revealed that they are indeed going to make VMware ESX3i free. ESX3i from just the hypervisor perspective has the same functionality as "plain" ESX server. This will have a big impact for hypervisor adaption.

Virtualization.info has taken the liberty to summarize some of the characteritics of ESX3i in its free form:

VI 3.5 and ESX 3i will continue to share a the large majority of the code base (so there will be an ESX 3i Update 2). There will be no delays on the release of both products.
ESX 3i will continue to have the same features that has today, without additional limitations
ESX 3i will continue to have the same APIs, allowing anybody to develop free or commercial alternatives to VirtualCenter (despite some features like VMotion cannot be replicated because of the VMware SDK limitations).
VMware will not require the purchase of any software & support subscription to access the product. Customer will be able to get the code without any restriction.
The customers that purchased the current version of ESX 3i directly from the VMware online store will be eligible for a rebate.
The ESX version that includes the Console Operating System (COS) will not be faded out (at least in the short timeframe). Most VMware customers are currently using that version and the company will support them for a long time.
VMware Server will not be faded out (as many could suppose). The company still sees the product as a valuable proposition for a different kind of audience.

With the recent soap going on with the rather sudden exit of Diane Green and Microsoft stepping onto the virtual battlefield, I think this is a very good move by VMware, one move that they have postponed as long as they could. This move will also accelerate hypervisor adaptation. So who wins? The customer. And in more ways than you think. Obviously getting a free, high quality, hypervisor is something that probably every customer will appreciate. But there's something that is going to be more important. Hypervisors will be everywhere whether it be on your servers or your desktop. The real challenge of course continues to be in the "management" (in the broadest sense of the word).