Search

ESX Server 3.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0 Release Date And New Pricing Model

Monday, 22 May 2006 by Michel Roth

CRN.com reports that VMware plans to announce imminent availability of its ESX Server 3.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0 platform, along with a new per-user pricing model during the first week of June, sources said.

Sources close to the Palo Alto, Calif., virtualization giant said VMware plans to offer aggressive pricing on its ESX Server 3 and launch a new per-user pricing model, in part to monetize its increasingly popular enterprise hosted desktop model. Customers can deploy virtual desktops from ESX Server 3 directly. In a call with partners last week, VMware, a subsidiary of EMC, said it will push its enterprise hosted desktop model more aggressively against Citrix Systems. VMware�s price per desktop is expected to be about $200 per user.

VMware also is expected to announce a price cut for ESX Server 3, but it may not reduce overall costs for the combined platform since VirtualCenter 2�s advanced and sought-after services, Distributed Availability Service and Distributed Resource Scheduling, will be add-ons and priced separately from the overall platform price, sources said.

Another partner contacted by CRN said he expects the release of ESX Server 3 and VirtualCenter 2 will stimulate strong growth for his virtualization practice later this year.

Read the full article here.