IBM Goes After SMB Virtualization with PowerVM Express

• By Becky Nagel
• 02/01/08

IBM announced Wednesday the release of PowerVM Express and a new Power6 microprocessor which, when combined, will bring new efficiencies to virtualization for small- and medium-size businesses, it said.

PowerVM Express runs on Unix, Linux and IBM's i5. It can create up to 160 virtual partitions on a single IBM Blade or System p server.

"Virtualization has typically been in the domain of large enterprises. Today we aim to simplify the adoption of virtualization technologies, making it available to small and medium-sized businesses," commented Scott Handy, vice president of marketing and strategy, IBM Power Systems, in a released statement.

IBM's PowerVM software line was recently renamed -- it used to be called Advanced POWER Virtualization (APV). The software comes in three editions: Enterprise, Standard and the previously mentioned Express.

One new addition to the entire PowerVM line is that all of the products "allows System p servers to run Linux x86 binary applications unmodified without recompilation, in addition to Unix and Linux on Power applications," the company said.

More information on all the PowerVM editions can be found here.