Virtualization Software

Virtualization Software - Open Source

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine)
http://www.linux-kvm.org

Started in 2006, strictly speaking KVM is neither a type 1 or type 2 hypervisor. It uses the standard Linux kernel as the hypervisor. Think of it as an embedded hypervisor. Support has been included in the official Linux kernel release since February 2007 which means you can use a variety of Linux distributions to act as the hypervisor. In 2008 Qumranet, the developer, was acquired by Red Hat.
Guest operating system support includes Linux, Windows, Solaris and FreeBSD.

Development: AMD, IBM, Intel, Novell, Red Hat, Canonical (Ubuntu) and community based.

VirtualBox
http://www.virtualbox.org

Started in 2004, VirtualBox is a comprehensive x86 virtualization platform aimed at desktop use. It is a very popular application for running Windows on Linux desktops and vice versa. In 2007 innotek, the developer, released the software under the GPL license. In 2008 Sun Microsystems acquired innotek.
Guest operating system support includes Linux, Windows, Solaris and FreeBSD.

Development: Sun Microsystems and community based.

Virtualization Software - Proprietary

VMware
http://www.vmware.com/

Founded in 1998, VMware was the first company to do virtualization on x86 hardware with their first release in 1999. The VMware Server and Workstation products use a full virtualization approach using a type 2 hypervisor. The more modern ESX product uses a type 1 hypervisor. Guest operating system support includes Linux, Windows, Solaris and FreeBSD. ESX is part of VMware Infrastructure and requires a license to be purchased.

Development: VMware with some community involvement.

Citrix
http://citrix.com/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=683148

The XenServer product uses the open source Xen for it's hypervisor. Citrix acquired XenSource, the developer of Xen, in 2007. Guest operating system support includes Linux, Windows, Solaris and FreeBSD. XenServer requires a license to be purchased.

Development: Various for the Xen hypervisor with Citrix for management tools.

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