Startup Virtual Iron Software Inc. this week is releasing a new version of its virtualization software, which adds the open source Xen hypervisor, and already users are welcoming the addition as an alternative to virtualization software market leader VMware Inc.

Virtual Iron Version 3.0 will grant users "native virtualization," which Virtual Iron executives said will let customers run existing 32- and 64-bit Linux and Windows operating systems without modification or upgrades to their data centers. Support for Windows, which Virtual Iron executives said is due out in September, marks a first for Virtual Iron, which previously worked with only Linux.

The new version will also use Intel Virtualization Technology; the hardware-assisted capabilities built into Intel processors. And it will require no installation or management of virtualization services on physical servers. This architecture is what enables Virtual Iron to support both Linux and Windows operating systems.

Intel Virtualization Technology is part of a collection of Intel silicon technologies that include Intel Hyper-Threading Technology and Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology. By implementing Virtualization Technology, Virtual Iron 3.0 allows a platform to run multiple operating systems and applications in independent partition.

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A third application, Virtual Iron 3 for Xen/Enterprise Edition, will be available via a commercial license for multi-server configuration and support. This edition contains Virtualization Services and Virtualization Manager and includes capabilities for high availability, disaster recovery, workload management and policy-based automation.

All three of the applications will begin beta testing for Linux in July 2006 and for Windows in September 2006. Average pricing for Enterprise Edition will start at $1,500 for a single server.