Sun announced the release of xVM VirtualBox 2.1 this week. This high-performance, open source desktop virtualization software supports the most popular enterprise host operating systems, including the Solaris OS and OpenSolaris, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Apple Mac OS X.

Although this free download is a small one with installation taking less than five minutes, it offers several enterprise-class enhancements, including:

• 3D acceleration graphics adapter that uses Open Graphics Library (OpenGL) to run high-performance graphics applications such as CAM-based imagery software.
• Better network performance that speeds up network-intensive applications like videos.
• Bridged networking configuration which makes it easier to deploy Web stacks like LAMP or SAMP.

xVM VirtualBox 2.1 supports:

• Sun Storage 7000 unified storage systems
• Intel's new Nehalem-based processors
• Mac OS X on Intel Virtualization Technology
• VMware's virtual machine disk (VMDK) and Microsoft's virtual hard disk (VHN) file formats
• 64-bit guest OSes on 32-bit host platforms

Users interested in support for xVM VirtualBox can purchase an enterprise subscription license, which includes 24/7 premium support from Sun and rights to deploy VirtualBox across your enterprise. Costs start at $30 per user each year. If an existing enterprise subscription is in place, this latest release is covered.

More than 8 million downloads of Sun xVM VirtualBox have been reported, and more than 25,000 more downloads occur every day, Sun says. There are over 2.5 million registered users with VirtualBox community members participating in online forums, reporting problems to a public bug tracker, subscribing to mail lists, and talking to other developers via an Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Visit VirtualBox.org and find out what this community is all about.

To see VirtualBox in action:

• tune in to a video replay of Andy Hall using xVM VirtualBox to deliver Windows applications alongside Solaris and Linux applications apps on his MacBook Pro.

• Steve Wilson, vice president of xVM, demonstrates how to use xVM VirtualBox to create a test lab environment on a single laptop.

More Information

xVM VirtualBox 2.1 free download

Sun xVM VirtualBox

VirtualBox.org

VirtualBox Support [...read more...]

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