Microsoft Buys Connectix for Virtual Machine Partitioning

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Microsoft last Friday acquired the virtual partitioning software, patents, and key employees of a small, private software maker called Connectix, a specialist in virtual machine partitioning technology for Windows, Linux, and MacOS machines. In effect, Microsoft has bought itself virtual partitioning software, which it sorely lacks. Other vendors sell virtual machine software that works on Windows, but Microsoft has no control over them. The truth is, there is no all-Microsoft-Windows virtual machine solution to sell against Unix, Linux, and proprietary machines.

That will change with the Connectix deal. Connectix is best known for its Virtual PC software for Windows and Mac PCs. Virtual PC for Windows allows a Windows machine to have guest virtual machines that support Linux, NetWare, OS/2, Solaris, or older versions of Windows. A version for OS/2 and Mac PCs allows these machines to support these environments, as well as Windows, within virtual machines. Connectix announced last November that it would eventually deliver a version of its software for servers, called, appropriately enough, Virtual Server, which is about to enter beta testing in April, about when Microsoft is set to launch Windows Server 2003. Virtual Server supports Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 as host environments, and it supports Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003 as guest environments, along with Linux, OS/2, Solaris, NetWare, and, if you can believe it, DOS. Virtual Server scales to 64 virtual machines on 32-way Intel-based servers and supports 64 GB of main memory, with up to 3.6 GB of maximum virtual memory, for any single partition. Connectix was expecting to start shipping the product by the end of 2003 at a price of $1,995 for a base license.

What will happen now that Microsoft has control of the Virtual Server product is unclear. But now we finally know how Microsoft is going to support partitioning in future Windows products. Odds are, Microsoft checked out rivals VMware and SW-Soft before approaching Connectix, which is further behind in the server arena than these two players.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Connectix will continue to sell and support its Windows, Mac, and OS/2 products during a six-month transition period, and Microsoft says it will integrate the products with its Windows and Mac portfolios. Virtual Server will be downloadable as a preview product on April 15 from Microsoft's Web site.

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