Virtual Iron (VI) has announced that IBM and HP will be bundling its Xen-based virtualization system with their server hardware.
It follows last month’s announcement by market leader VMware that the major server vendors would be including an embedded version of its ESX hypervisor with their systems.
The software bundle for both IBM and HP consists of Virtual Iron’s flagship Extended Enterprise Edition software pre-installed, together with the company’s top support package. The software comes with the IBM x3550 or x3655 rack-mounted models for US$12,400 and US$13,100 respectively, or the x3500 tower at US$13,800.
The HP hardware consists of the Intel-based ProLiant DL380, the AMD-based ProLiant DL385 at US$10,447, or HP’s C3000 blade chassis with two blades plus StorageWorks 1000 Modular Smart Array at US$33,114.
The bundles are available immediately in North America through Tech Data‘s network of value-added resellers.
Virtual Iron’s Mike Grandinetti said Gartner’s research shows that customers are satisfied with arch-rival VMware’s products but are less satisfied with its configurability and cost. VI claims to sell its virtualization software for one-fifth the cost of VMware’s equivalent.