Linux Vendors Now Enabled to Integrate VMware Tools into Operating Systems

    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 (NYSE:   VMW) 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 (NYSE:   EMC). For more information, visit http://www.vmware.com.
     VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States
 and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may
 be trademarks of their respective companies.
     Contact: Nick Fuentes, nfuentes@vmware.com
 
 

SOURCE VMware, Inc.

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