Hyper-V or Hype? A VMWare survival story

Alex Lewis points out on his Network World blog, that he expects Microsoft’s Hyper-V technology to dominate VMWare. Well let’s look at that, Alex.

We know survival moves are already being made by VMWare. According to Diane Greene, president, CEO, and co-founder of VMWare, VMWare’s revenue model has been shifted to account for Microsoft’s entrance into the market. VMWare is clearly the market leader and has a wealth of experience delivering an excellent product.

I have been a big VMWare fan for years now, having implemented it for clients and in numerous environments. It is stable and technologically advanced and is trusted in production environments the world over. A number of my colleagues are in the Xen camp or Virtual Iron followers. Let’s face it, those are great products, but they are niche offerings. VMWare is the current leader and you would be foolish to think Microsoft would fail on a castastrophic scale. I will come out and say right now that Microsoft will in fact dominate this market. Lewis and Vaughan-Nichols bring up some great points and I am in total agreement.

Beyond the talk of free beer and shifting sales offerings, there is the undeniable factor of Microsoft’s presence. Most organizations have readily available skilled personnel available in Windows technology. Many organizations will definitely prefer the “all-in-one” approach and be attracted to the Microsoft offerings. When value, hardware support, cost, usability, licensing, support and ROI are considered with the multitude of other factors, there is no doubt that VMWare has to deal with a very legitimate contender. At the very least, VMWare’s percentage will shrink. Significantly. This will be the fight of their lives.

Now I don’t think they will ever go away, this is a great product and company. The juggernaut that is Microsoft will make its presence felt right away however and in fact, smother VMWare. So most certainly look for a fight, brief as it may be.

On that note, look for more press thunder as Microsoft shifts in the wake of the departure of Mr. William Henry Gates III. This is a company eager to erase the problems that the Vista launch has caused. Windows 7 already has a slated date of release in January 2010. The Hyper-V release will certainly be accompanied by waves of press. The hype is just beginning and this is where I start believing it.