During the first quarter VMware announced and shipped new products and technologies in four key areas: (1) desktop virtualization, (2) datacenter virtualization, (3) management & automation for the datacenter and (4) platform security. VMware announced OEM agreements with four major hardware vendors to pre-install VMware ESXi hypervisor on their servers. To accelerate growth among the more than 25,000 indirect channel partners reselling VMware, the company announced major enhancements to its channel partner programs. This quarter also marked the launch of VMworld Europe, the industry’s first European virtualization conference. Held in Cannes, France, VMworld Europe drew more than 4,500 customers and partners.