From virtualization to multi-cloud, apps, and security—with a commitment to building a better future for all.
Scroll down to find out more about VMware’s journey and our mission to deliver the digital foundation to accelerate innovation.
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The VMware story begins on February 10, 1998, in sunny Palo Alto, California. It is here that five forward-thinking technologists, all passionate about creating a better way to compute, come together to form VMware, Inc. with Diane Greene as CEO. By the end of the year, the company grows to 20 employees.
Diane Greene
Edouard Bugnion
Scott Devine
Mendel Rosenblum
Edward Wang
VMware presents its first product, Workstation 1.0, at DEMO 1999. “VMware Brings Freedom of Choice to Your Desktop,” declares The Wall Street Journal, and programmers around the world delight in the product, which allows a user to run multiple operating systems as virtual machines, all on a single PC.
VMware reaches $1 million in bookings, thanks in part to the 2,260 universities that purchase Workstation 1.0.
VMware releases the ESX Server 1.5, its first hypervisor. By consolidating multiple servers onto fewer physical devices, this groundbreaking product boosts performance, streamlines IT administration, and even helps organizations cut costs.
On May 28, 2002, VMware is issued its first patent, #6397242: System and Method for Virtualizing Computer Systems. Three founders, Scott Devine, Edouard Bugnion, and Mendel Rosenblum, are credited as inventors. Today, the company holds more than 1,800 U.S. patents and, for the past three years, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has recognized VMware’s canon of innovations as the second most powerful software patent portfolio.
VMware introduces vMotion, which allows users to move a workload from one server to another, all while keeping the application running. Today, the ability to seamlessly migrate virtual machines is an integral part of nearly every virtualization deployment.
The vCenter server provides a centralized management platform that allows for simple deployment and automation of virtual infrastructures, along with greater visibility and control for IT.
ESX 2.0, a new edition of VMware’s famed hypervisor, allows users to make their existing servers even more efficient.
VMware expands abroad, opening its first European office in Frimley, UK. Since then VMware has opened offices all around the world, from Asia Pacific to the Middle East to Latin America.
The EMC Corporation acquires VMware on January 9, 2004, for $635 million.
2004 marks the first year of VMworld, which will come to be the world's largest cloud computing and virtualization conference. The first conference attracts 1,400 attendees—three times the expected attendance, but still a modest number compared to the more than 20,000 business people, entrepreneurs, and technologists who attended VMworld in 2017.
In 2005, VMware establishes its first offices in Bangalore, India, and Beijing, China. The company cultivates a strong culture of diversity, even as it grows rapidly. That same year, VMware reaches 1,000 employees globally.
VMware opens an office in Cork, Ireland, with five people. Today, the business in Ireland has grown to more than 1,000 talented people representing over 53 nationalities.
VMware moves into the Palo Alto campus in Stanford Research Park. Exactly seven years later, VMware completed its expansion of this campus and dubbed it the “campus in the forest.” The Palo Alto campus remains VMware's headquarters to this day, boasting 105 acres, 1,500 trees, a pond, and 13 beloved turtles.
On August 14, 2007, VMware becomes publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock debuts at $29 per share and closes the day at $51.
VMware launches its Distributed Resource Scheduler, or DRS, which allows users to define the rules for allocation of physical resources among virtual machines.
Having passed the $1 billion mark in 2007, VMware has a banner year, closing 2008 at $1.9 billion of revenue. The year also brings a new CEO, Paul Maritz.
In 2009, VMware ushers virtualization into a new era: the age of desktop virtualization. VMware’s Virtual Desktop delivers desktops and applications not only to laptops and PCs, but to smartphones and other mobile devices. Deploying from the cloud straight to devices simplifies IT, decreases company costs, improves security, and allows users impressive flexibility and mobility.
On May 21, 2009, VMware launches VMware vSphere, a virtualization platform for cloud computing that quickly becomes a mainstay in the industry. It receives the prestigious Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award in the software category.
The VMware Foundation launches as a platform for VMware people to get engaged in their communities, contributing where and how they choose. Citizen Philanthropy, VMware’s unique approach to giving, allows the company to amplify individuals’ contributions of time, talent, and financial resources, to the causes that matter most to them.
VMware launches vCenter Operations—now vRealize Operations—which lets users manage everything from applications to infrastructure. This kind of control enables customers to streamline and automate IT operations, changing how they manage their virtual and cloud environments.
With R&D centers in Bulgaria, China, India, Israel, and the United States, VMware opens a large new R&D center in Pune, India. This contributes significantly to the development of VMware’s Cloud portfolio and brings the VMware workforce to nearly 11,000 employees around the world.
VMware acquires network virtualization company Nicira for $1.26 billion. A key addition to VMware’s Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) strategy, Nicira’s Network Virtualization Platform (NVP) enables the dynamic creation of virtual networks that are independent from physical network hardware. This same year, Pat Gelsinger becomes CEO.
“VMware NSX is the most revolutionary development in our data center security in more than a decade.”
- TERRY MCDONOUGHThe launch of NSX brings about a completely new operational model for networking. By moving entire networks into software, NSX allows for a key security component, micro-segmentation, and empowers IT to help organizations become more agile and profitable. vSAN, a core building block of the SDDC, is introduced in the same year.
Just 18 months after Nicira, VMware buys AirWatch for $1.54 billion—the largest acquisition in its history. With AirWatch, VMware soon becomes a major player in the Mobile Device Management space, which allows companies to meet the increasing demand for BYOD (“bring your own device”) in the workplace.
VMware is featured on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For list… and it has remained there ever since! This is thanks, in large part, to VMware’s EPIC₂ values—Execution, Passion, Integrity, Customers, and Community—which are at the core of everything the company does.
“It’s all about the collective impact that people can have when they’re focused, have purpose, and just want to change the world.”
- BETSY SUTTER
In the largest deal in tech history, Dell Inc. announces the intent to acquire EMC Corporation, including its stake in VMware, for $67 billion. This acquisition creates a unique family of businesses, under the name of Dell Technologies, that provides the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT, and protect their most important asset: information.
VMware makes a commitment to achieve carbon neutrality and 100 percent renewable energy use for global operations by 2020. The VMware 2020 goals serve the company’s mission to be a force for good in the world, contributing more to society, the environment, and the global economy than it takes.
VMware and Amazon Web Services (AWS) announce the launch of the VMware Cloud on AWS, enabling IT teams to manage their cloud-based resources with familiar VMware tools. This partnership signals the dawn of a new era in cloud computing, where customers can operate across multiple clouds without restriction.
VMware reaches 20,000 employees spanning across the globe.
VMware introduces its VMware Enterprise PKS in August of 2017. Enterprise PKS allows enterprises to deploy and operate production-grade container services, including Kubernetes (the “K” in “Enterprise PKS”), on VMware vSphere.
“Software has the power to transform not just business, but humanity. As the tech community comes of age, VMware will participate in a thoughtful way that acknowledges our individual and collective responsibility. The future is bright with so much to be achieved as we build the world’s digital foundation for tomorrow’s technology.”
- PAT GELSINGER
2018 marks 20 years of software innovation, optimization and automation at VMware. Employees celebrate throughout the year, remembering their greatest achievements and collective impact around the world.
Achieving carbon neutrality two years ahead of target, VMware remains committed to driving positive global impact across people, products and the planet.
The acquisitions of Pivotal and Carbon Black enable VMware to help customers build, run, manage, connect and protect any app, on any cloud and any device.
VMware’s Board of Directors appoints Rangarajan (Raghu) Raghuram as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors effective June 1, 2021. Since joining VMware in 2003, Raghuram has helped steer the company’s strategic direction and its technology evolution throughout VMware’s rich history.
A publicly traded company since August 2007, VMware headed back to the New York Stock Exchange in December 2021 to ring the opening bell. This time in celebration of becoming a standalone company from Dell Technologies. Executives, board members, and employees were on hand to witness the milestone.
VMware moves further into the multi-cloud universe with the unveiling of VMware Explore, the global multi-cloud industry experience. The event is an evolution of the company’s flagship conference VMworld, and is inclusive of more technologies, and ecosystem and developer communities that help shape the multi-cloud universe.
2023 marks 25 years of collective innovation at VMware. For more than two decades VMware has cultivated a culture of innovation, bringing together the brightest ideas, diverse perspectives, and communities to co-create solutions.
What started in 1998 with five technologists in a small apartment is now a leading global innovator in enterprise software. Today, VMware’s multi-cloud, apps, anywhere workspace, networking, and security solutions serve as the digital foundation for hundreds of thousands of customers globally.
VMware innovations fundamentally changed IT—and unlocked possibilities for businesses. Today, we help our customers get from wherever they are to wherever they want to be…faster.
We’re constantly looking for new opportunities to unlock technology’s value and build a better world. Find out how.