During the second quarter, VMware made several strategic announcements in three key areas: (1) new products for application and infrastructure management, (2) new products for desktop and datacenter virtualization and (3) new channel programs and distribution agreements and partners.

Specific, notable quarterly highlights include:

• Announced the acquisition of B-hive Networks, a privately-held application performance management software company. With this acquisition, which closed on July 1, VMware enhances the VMware portfolio of application and infrastructure management products by offering proactive performance management and service level reporting for applications running within virtual machines. B-hive’s R&D facility and team also forms the core of VMware’s new development center in Israel.
• Delivered a bundle of application and infrastructure management products for the datacenter. VMware Lifecycle Manager, VMware Lab Manager and VMware Stage Manager provide a more cost-effective and powerful way to manage the entire software lifecycle. In particular, they enable end user self-provisioning of virtual machines, give IT departments complete control of virtual machine environments and provide application owners with application release management capabilities.
• Announced general availability of VMware Site Recovery Manager, a pioneering new product for disaster recovery management and automation that simplifies business continuity planning and testing, and reduces the risk and complexity associated with executing disaster recovery.
• Announced general availability of VMware ThinApp 4, an application virtualization solution that lets customers run multiple versions of virtually any application on any Windows operating system without conflict. This product is the result of our first quarter acquisition of Thinstall.
• Announced the VMware Alliance Affiliate Initiative (Channel Affiliate Program) – CA, Dell (Equal Logic), EMC, McAfee, NetApp, Riverbed, and Vizioncore (a subsidiary of Quest Software) have created VMware-oriented virtualization training and tools for channel partners as well as financial incentives on the sale of their products combined with VMware solutions.
• Announced new Original Equipment Manufacturer agreements with key Chinese vendors Lenovo and Inspur to distribute and support VMware Infrastructure 3 on their systems. These agreements will help to further accelerate the adoption of VMware virtualization technologies in China.
• Dell delivered a broad line of server systems embedded with VMware ESXi hypervisor including Dell PowerEdge 2950, R900, 1950, 2900, M600 blade and M605 blade systems. Other major vendors are already, or are committed to, shipping VMware ESXi embedded in their systems include HP, IBM, Fujitsu Siemens, Hitachi, HP and NEC.
• Announced new ESXi and VMware Infrastructure 3 enablement agreements with original design manufacturers (ODMs) ASUS, Gigabyte, Inventec and Tyan, adding to VMware’s existing ODM relationships with Supermicro and Intel. The agreements will enable channel partners and system builders worldwide to make virtualization available to a broader range of customers by certifying a wide range of one-, two- and four-socket server systems as well as blade servers for the VMware virtualization platform. This provides customers of all sizes even greater flexibility when selecting the servers most suited to their needs.
• Announced new thin-client certification partner program. The new VMware certification program will enable VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) customers to choose from a wide variety of thin client devices officially certified for VMware products. Vendors that have committed to be part of the program include: Chip PC, Computer Lab International (CLI), Devon IT, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP, IGEL, NEC, Pano Logic, Praim by CompuMaster, Sun Microsystems, and Wyse.
• VMware announced delivery of a high-performance Virtual Desktop Solution for Remote Users with Sun Microsystems’ Sun Ray Software and Virtual Display Clients. The new integrated desktop solution offers superior performance, especially over wide area networks (WANs), and leverages VMware’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure with Sun Microsystems’ Sun Ray (TM) Software and virtual display clients. Ideal for use with remote users, enterprise branch offices, and offshore developers, this solution beats the competition in performance and user experience, according to customers.