Author: JT Smith
program with more than 300 companies worldwide participating. Adopters include Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL),
Merrill Lynch and Informatica. The company also announced that the product is available for sale today at www.vmware.com. Based on VMware’s patent pending MultipleWorlds technology, GSX Server gives information technology (IT)
organizations mainframe-class control on Intel based servers. The software helps IT professionals leverage resources
in responding to the growing demand for new applications and services by cutting down on the number of servers
required, taking the pain out of staging and testing server applications and automating server installation and
management.
Response to our GSX Server has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Diane Greene, co-founder, president and chief
executive officer of VMware. “A number of beta users of GSX Server report that the product works well, meets or
exceeds their performance expectations and that they expect substantial cost savings from its use. One user estimated
that the software will pay for itself within three days of deployment!”
In addition to Merrill Lynch, which was listed as a GSX Server adopter when the product was announced in December
2000, Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. has been using GSX Server during its beta program with excellent results.
“We run database servers that process critical data gathered from wells all over the world,” said Jody Powers, president,
Halliburton Energy Services. “The security and complexity of this data mandates that each batch run on a separate
machine. With GSX Server, we are able to run up to 10 database servers on a single Dell PowerEdge server, which
allows us to provide mainframe levels of reliability and data security at much lower cost.”
Using VMware’s GSX server, Halliburton supports hundreds of personal computers running a custom-developed
database to process replication of oil well data with remote systems in the field. By running those database servers on
GSX Server, Halliburton has greatly reduced the total number of servers and concentrated the data on a small number of
highly manageable, reliable disk subsystems.
Founded in 1919, Halliburton Company is the world’s leading diversified energy services, engineering, energy equipment,
construction, and maintenance company. In 1999, Halliburton’s consolidated revenues were $14.9 billion and it
conducted business with a workforce of approximately 100,000 in more than 120 countries. The company’s World Wide
Web site can be accessed at http://www.halliburton.com.
Another beta user of GSX Server is Informatica.
“Our technical support engineers need to match the setup and configuration of our customers,” said Ian Cairns, manager
of IT at Informatica’s UK operation. “This used to be a very time-consuming process requiring software installations and
reconfigurations. By using VMware GSX Server, we can now instantly startup a virtual machine that duplicates the
needed environment running in a safely isolated virtual machine. Informatica is saving by consolidating servers, and
we’ve improved the level of service to our customers.”
Informatica Corporation, based in Palo Alto, California, is a market-leading provider of e-business infrastructure and
analytic software which enables customers to automate the integration, analysis and delivery of critical corporate
information. Informatica uses VMwareGSX Server to help its technical support engineers access and use the exact
machine environment required to diagnose a problem. VMware GSX Server greatly increases efficiency by greatly
reducing the need for software configuration and by storing the required environment images on a smaller number of
servers that can be accessed remotely. Informatica’s World Wide Web site can be accessed at http://www.informatica.com.
VMware GSX Server for Linux systems is priced at $2,499 for a single license purchase and is available today via
electronic distribution directly from VMware. Premium support at the Silver, Gold and Platinum levels is available on a per
incident basis or via subscription. Packaged versions of GSX Server will be available from VMware and from selected
resellers and distributors within 30 days. GSX Server for Windows NT or Windows 2000 systems will ship in the second
quarter of 2001. For purchase or for more information, visit VMware at www.vmware.com or call 1-877-4VMWARE
(486-9273).
About VMware
VMware serves enterprise IT groups, service providers and technical professionals with software for delivering
managed services on Intel computers safely, reliably and on demand. VMware products are based on the company’s
patent pending MultipleWorlds technology, which combines classic virtual machine technology with advanced virtual
networking and mainframe-class system and resource management capabilities. Founded in 1998, VMware delivered its
first product in May 1999. VMware has more than 500,000 registered users including 5,000 corporate customers in 100
countries. VMware is a privately held company based in Palo Alto, California. For more information, please visit the Web
site at http://www.vmware.com.
