SWsoft Announces Virtuozzo OS Virtualization for Windows

S. San Francisco, Calif., February 21, 2003 — SWsoft, Inc., a leader in hosting automation and enterprise server software, today announced the results of extensive internal testing of the Windows version of its OS virtualization product — Virtuozzo. SWsoft’s OS virtualization software lets IT managers slice Intel servers into more than 100 dynamically resizable Windows Virtual Environments (VE), each VE functionally identical to a dedicated Windows server, with resource control and complete isolation. In efficiency tests, a single CPU server supported 100 VEs, each running Microsoft SQL server, IIS, and COM+ applications written in Active Server Pages. In scalability tests, a single VE scaled to 8 GB of memory and 4 CPUs.

According to Dr. Alexander Tormasov, Chief Scientist for SWsoft, “although we are still in the process of testing Virtuozzo for Windows on larger SMP machines, we are confident that each Virtuozzo for Windows VE will scale to the full machine.”

“Virtuozzo is a next generation OS virtualization technology for the datacenter. We’ve solved the problems of scalability and efficiency inherent in the virtual machine technology sold by VMware and Connectix, which can only utilize 1 CPU and 4GB of memory per partition,” said SWsoft CEO, Serguei Beloussov. “Scalability is vital to enterprise applications which need the full resources of a larger production server. Efficiency is vital to the hosting service provider.”

“I evaluated VMware for use in a Windows service and could only run 5 virtual machines on a server,” said Jacky Yeung, CEO of OnSmart Networks. “With this low efficiency, I would never make money. Virtuozzo for Windows will give me the efficiency I need to make the good profits.”

In testing at IBM’s Solutions Partnership Center in San Mateo last year, SWsoft’s Virtuozzo for Linux product was shown to be the most efficient and scalable OS virtualization technology for Linux. In efficiency tests 2,500 Linux VEs were run on a single IBM xSeries 370 server and in scalability tests a single VE scaled to 16 CPUs and 64GB of memory. Virtuozzo for Windows is based on the same next generation architecture as Virtuozzo for Linux.

“The production version of Virtuozzo for Windows will run 500 VEs on single server,” says Beloussov. “For hosting customers, higher efficiency directly translates into higher profits. Anything under 100 VEs on a server is not profitable.”

Tested Virtuozzo for Windows Features

• Efficient dynamic partitioning with resource isolation and resource control for hundreds of Windows partitions on a single server.
• Commodity x86 dual-processor machines easily supported 50 Windows VEs in a simulated production implementation
• Low overhead implementation – tests show only nominal loss of performance compared to bare Windows
• Each Windows VE has its own set of security settings, including unique sets of users
• Each VE can utilize the full computer memory and full set of CPUs. (On a 4 CPU machine with 8 GB of memory, a single VE used all 4 CPUs and 8 GB of memory)
• Management utilities (vzctl) passed usability and reliability tests
• Manage resources such as CPU, memory, bandwidth, disk
• Manage partitions: start, stop, reboot, create, destroy
• Manage application provisioning
• Windows application control tested using Windows Management Interface (WMI)
• Windows applications in each VE ran smoothly with no modification

An early preview of the functionality of Virtuozzo for Windows is available for press, analysts. Contact agranlund@sw-soft.com for more information.

General public testing of Virtuozzo for Windows will be available within 3 months. Sales to the general public will begin within 6 months.

About SWsoft
SWsoft is an advanced server and networking software technology company focused on the development of its patent-pending Virtuozzo™ technology with end-to-end solutions and services for hosting service providers such as Internet data centers, application service providers, managed hosting providers and Web hosters. SWsoft's products deliver powerful, comprehensive solutions that can help data centers automate management, accelerate operations and provide excellent return on investments. For more information about SWsoft, please visit www.sw-soft.com.