Microsoft on Wednesday denied reports out of the United Kingdom that the highly anticipated virtualization technology for its forthcoming Windows Longhorn server operating system is significantly behind schedule.

A Microsoft spokesman said the technology, code named Viridian, will be available within 180 days of the company's release of Longhorn, as previously indicated.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Web sites ITpro.co.uk and PCpro.co.uk reported that Microsoft senior VP Bob Muglia told attendees at a tech conference in San Diego that Viridian was behind schedule.

"Bob didn't say anything different in his keynote today than what has been said for the last year -- he just reiterated that Viridian would be delivered within 180 days of Longhorn," said Microsoft's spokesman.

Microsoft has yet to set a specific release date for Longhorn, but the software is expected to ship sometime this year.

Viridian is a key part of Microsoft's campaign to develop virtualization technologies that can compete with those offered by specialists like EMC's VMware unit. Virtualization refers to the process of subdividing resources on a computer into discrete units that can act as separate machines, running their own instances of operating systems and applications.

The technique is widely used in business computing environments that want to achieve maximum return on their computer hardware investments.

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