February 18, 2005 4:00 AM PST

Xen lures big-name endorsements

By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Reddit
- Facebook
Email
Print

Related Stories: LinuxWorld: Xen lures big-name endorsements
February 18, 2005; HP: Don't like software patents? Learn to deal
February 15, 2005; Red Hat updates premium Linux
February 15, 2005; PowerPC support on tap for Red Hat Linux
February 14, 2005; HP plugs Linux for 64-processor servers
February 8, 2005; AMD sketches out new high-end, low-end chips
November 12, 2004; VMware aims for four-processor abilities
October 29, 2004

BOSTON--In just a few short months, an open-source software package called Xen has been catapulted from obscurity to the limelight as many computing industry powers throw their weight behind the project.

Xen lets multiple operating systems run on the same computer, a feature that's useful for extracting as much work as possible from a single system. The technology is common among high-end servers today, but on mainstream systems it requires proprietary "virtual machine" software from EMC subsidiary VMware.

At the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo here, numerous companies voiced Xen support in the form of endorsements, programming help and software contributions. Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Novell, Red Hat, Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Voltaire all are involved, but one of the more interesting allies is IBM, which has decades of experience in the area.

News.context

What's new:
A critical mass of corporate computing powers have endorsed the open-source Xen project, which competes with VMware in letting a single computer run several operating systems.

Bottom line:
Xen is being groomed for success with widespread support and software contributions. The result could be a standard way of making servers handle multiple tasks more efficiently.

Latest tech news headlines

The main problem with Windows Vista
Posted in Defensive Computing by Michael Horowitz

September 6, 2008 7:50 PM PDT
Google-focused satellite enters orbit
Posted in News - Digital Media by Jonathan Skillings

September 6, 2008 7:33 PM PDT
In NFL deal, an extra point for Adobe's Flash
Posted in News - Digital Media by Jonathan Skillings

September 6, 2008 6:40 PM PDT

Resource center from News.com sponsors

Aligning CIO & CEO visions

What CIOs need to know

It's a simple truth. The closer you and your CEO see things, the greater your chance for success. Our exclusive report can help you get there—and help your business grow. Get the report featuring the views of 765 CEOs on innovation. learn more

What CEOs think: Innovation Insights for CIOs

Learn How CIOs can deliver strategic success for their enterprises

The New CIO: Beyond Technology

Learn how CIOs become heroes

Podcast: Chris Gorog of Napster

Learn about the impact of technology in strategy execution

The future of the Enterprise

RSS Feeds

Add headlines from CNET News to your homepage or feedreader.

More feeds available in our RSS feed index.

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right

News - Business Tech
Chrome's JavaScript challenge to Silverlight
The advent of Google's Chrome browser, software pros say, should spur a big speedup for JavaScript, which would raise its standing against Microsoft's Silverlight technology.
Gallery
Photos: Top 10 reviews of the week
Here are CNET Reviews' 10 favorite items from the past week, including the TiVo HD XL, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50, and the Dish Network's newest digital TV converter box.
News - Apple
Apple watchers spot 'iPod Nano' pix, iTunes hints
The rumor mill has long been predicting a longer, leaner new version of the iPod Nano, and now it's conjuring up some pictures.
Coop's Corner
Chris Shipley 1, Internet lynch mob 0
Demo's impresario goes public with a tart and smartly written riposte to the shoot-from-the-lip crowd.
Video
Katie Couric reflects on first Webcast
The political conventions are over and so are CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric's first series of Webcasts. CNET's Kara Tsuboi sat down with Couric on the final night of the Republican National Convention to discuss what she liked about Webcasting, some of her most memorable guests, and whether TV news will still be around by the next round of conventions.
News - Digital Media
Google-focused satellite enters orbit
The search titan has exclusive rights among online mapping sites to images from the new GeoEye-1 satellite, which launched Saturday.
Video
YouTube plays party politics
During the presidential campaigning four years ago, YouTube didn't even exist. Now it's a tool candidates must master to get their message across. CNET's Kara Tsuboi stops by the YouTube upload booths at the Democratic and Republican conventions to find out why Google's video site has such a big presence in Denver and St. Paul, Minn.
News - Gaming and Culture
Are Demo and TechCrunch50 fragmenting their audiences?
With both events scheduled to start Monday, many press, as well as venture capitalists and others are having to choose which one to attend.
News - Cutting Edge
Execs predict next Google-like tech
On eve of company's 10-year anniversary, researchers and business pundits speculate about what technologies might someday have as much impact as Google.
Gallery
Images: The art of 'Spore' prototypes
Will Wright and his Maxis team worked on dozens of prototypes to test the elements of their soon-to-be-released evolution game. Here's a sampling.
Webware
At the TechCrunch50, an unfair advantage?
Inside baseball: How Webware and other blogs can compete with TechCrunch in covering the TechCrunch50 event.
Green Tech
Duke Energy to invest in mini solar power plants
Can hundreds of rooftop solar panels collectively operate like a central power plant? Duke Energy launches $100 million distributed solar program to find out.