Today at VMworld 2008, VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, announced an expanded and unified VMware Ready™ umbrella program for partner solutions that are interoperable and optimized for VMware products. VMware Ready incorporates existing hardware certification programs and will expand to cover new areas of server, storage, networking, security, management, virtual appliances, and cloud computing solutions that complement VMware’s Virtual Datacenter Operating System (VDC-OS) and vCloud initiatives. The program is designed to assure customers that VMware Ready-labeled products and solutions offered by VMware partners – the largest ecosystem of virtualization technology vendors and service providers – are optimized for VMware products. Customers who use VMware Ready offerings benefit from the safest, broadest choice of solutions, reduced risk, and lower integration costs.

“VMware Ready partner offerings will help customers make the transition to a virtual datacenter and ultimately to a cloud-capable enterprise faster, easier, and with less disruption and risk,” said Brian Byun, vice president, global partners and solutions, VMware. “The fully virtualized datacenter that enables automated flexing between on-premise environments and off-premise clouds requires solutions and systems beyond the capability of any single vendor. Partners building solutions that are VMware Ready ensure baseline interoperability and higher levels of integration with VMware products. With the VMware Ready logo, we are assuring our customers that our partners’ solutions have passed VMware-specified criteria and are optimized for our Virtual Datacenter OS.”

This new expanded VMware Ready strategy, combined with VMware’s established market leadership offers partners the largest market opportunity across enterprise internal clouds or emerging off-premise cloud infrastructure. In addition to the more than 2,000 server, storage, I/O, and thin client devices from more than 150 companies that have already achieved VMware Ready Certified status, VMware partners have lined up in support of new or expanded VMware Ready programs across many areas that include:

• VMware Ready storage: Dell/Equalogic, EMC, FalconStor, HP, IBM and NetApp are among the many partners supporting VMware’s vStorage initiative and roadmap. (See related press release, “VMware Unveils New vStorage Technologies to Deliver Leading Efficiency and Manageability for the Virtual Datacenter.”)
• VMware Ready networking: Brocade, Broadcom, Cisco, Emulex, Intel, QLogic and others are integrating with VMware vNetwork technologies to provide customers integrated management of physical and virtual network infrastructure as well as optimized network and storage I/O.
• VMware Ready management: Key management vendors including BMC Software, CA, EMC, HP Software, IBM Tivoli, NetIQ, nworks, Quest Software, Symantec, and Tripwire are building solutions that integrate under VMware-recommended best practices with VMware vCenter products (formerly VMware VirtualCenter products). These partner solutions span multiple administrative domains (e.g., security and virtualization) and heterogeneous virtualized and physical datacenter resources. (See related press release, “VMware Announces VMware Ready Program for Management Solutions.”)
• VMware Ready security: VMware VMsafe provides fine-grained visibility into virtual machines in order to detect and stop previously undetectable viruses, rootkits and malware before they can infect a system. Checkpoint, IBM, McAfee, Radware, Symantec, and TrendMicro are announcing their plans to deliver VMsafe–integrated products in 2009 that provide superior protection to virtual machines than possible with physical machines or other virtualization solutions.
• VMware Ready virtual appliances: Building on the 300+ partners in the VMware Technology Alliance Program, VMware Ready for virtual appliances includes Operating Systems Vendors (OSVs) and virtual appliance authoring toolkit vendors such as Novell and rPath.
• VMware Ready cloud providers: Building on the 100+ service providers in the VMware Service Provider Program, VMware Ready cloud providers leverage the benefits the VMware platform to deliver flexible enterprise-class cloud, hosting, and managed services. These solutions integrate with VMware Virtual Appliances and vApps. vApps turn new or existing applications into self-describing and self-managing entities. Just as the UPC bar code contains all information about a product, vApps give application owners a standard way to describe operational policies for an application which the VDC-OS can automatically interpret and execute. (See related press release, “VMware Announces vCloud Initiative for Enterprise-Class Cloud Computing with Support from Industry Leaders BT, Rackspace, SAVVIS, Sungard, T-Systems, Verizon Business and Others.”)

In addition to the VMware Ready brand, additional designations are available for partner solutions that are specifically optimized for VMware environments (VMware Ready Optimized), and for certified hardware (VMware Ready Certified).

For more information on the VMware Ready program, participating partners, and updates to the initiative, please visit www.vmware.com/go/vmwareready.