Microsoft and Novell detail joint virtualization roadmap

Quoting from the Microsoft official announcement:

Microsoft Corp. and Novell today unveiled more details about their joint technical road map and the benefits customers can expect from the collaboration. Microsoft and Novell are engaged in development on four areas of technology that address significant problems faced by enterprise customers today: virtualization, Web services for managing physical and virtual servers, directory and identity interoperability, and document format compatibility.

Virtualization

Microsoft and Novell are developing a compelling virtualization offering for Novell’s SUSE Linux* Enterprise Server and Windows Server® to consolidate server workloads in heterogeneous data centers. The virtualization collaboration agreement between Novell and Microsoft is designed to allow customers to do the following:

  • Host SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 from Novell as a virtualized guest on an upcoming service pack of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2, to be available in the second quarter.
  • Host SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 as an enlightened guest on the next version of Microsoft Windows Server, code-named Longhorn, using the Windows Server virtualization technology, which is scheduled to be available within 180 days of the release of Windows Server Longhorn.
  • Host Windows Server Longhorn as a paravirtualized guest on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, using the Xen virtualization technology embedded in the Linux operating system. Windows Server Longhorn is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2007.