VMware (www.vmware.com) has announced VMware Workstation 11, the newest version of its PC virtualization solution. It will offer Windows 10 Tech Preview readiness and cloud connectivity with VMware vCloud Air integration to support the most advanced computing environments.
According to Nicolas Rochard, director of product marketing, End-User Computing, VMware, VMware Workstation 11 will deliver leading-edge features including:
° The ability to run more than 200 operating systems, including the latest Microsoft Windows 10 Tech Preview. Technical users can also use Windows 2012 R2 for servers, Ubuntu 14.10, RHEL 7, CentOS 7, Fedora 20, Debian 7.6 and many more.
° Support for the latest Intel 64-bit x86 processors, including the new Haswell microarchitecture. The solution will purportedly deliver up to 45% improvement in CPU intensive operations like multimedia, encryption/decryption, and other strenuous performance tests compared to Workstation 101.
° The ability to create virtual machines with up to 16 vCPUs, 8TB virtual disks and up to 64GB of memory. Graphics-intensive applications will be given an additional boost by allocating up to 2 GB of video memory per virtual machine.
° Connection to VMware vSphere or VMware vCloud Air will be available to extend and scale virtual machines on a public cloud. Developers will be able to connect to VMware vCloud Air and upload, run, and view virtual machines right from the Workstation interface to collaborate with remote team members and scale through a public cloud. Users will also be able to drag and drop virtual machines between a PC and a private cloud running vSphere, VMware ESXi or another instance of Workstation.
VMware Player 7 Pro will be an updated streamlined desktop virtualization solution that lets users run one or more operating systems on the same computer. It will boasts added operating system compatibility, support for the latest laptops and tablets, and compatibility with VMware Fusion 7 Pro and Workstation 11. According to Rochard, key capabilities will include:
° VMware Player 7 Pro will run on the latest release of Windows including Windows 8.1 and will support prevalent operating systems like Windows XP and Windows 7 in a virtual environment so users can continue to run legacy applications as long as they need.
° VMware Player 7 Pro will be optimized to run on today’s modern hardware including the latest PC laptops and high-resolution tablets.
° VMware Player 7 Pro will be able to run restricted virtual machines created by VMware Workstation 11 or VMware Fusion 7 Pro. Restricted virtual machines secure corporate desktops with encryption, runtime password protection, USB access restriction, isolation between the host and guest OS, and time limitation.
While 32 bit operating systems are supported inside virtual machines, VMware Workstation 11 and Player 7 Pro will require 64 bit processor and 64 bit host operating systems for advanced computing and enhanced performance.
Customers who purchase VMware Workstation 10 and VMware Player 6 Plus between October 2014 and December 2014 will receive a free electronic upgrade to VMware Workstation 11 and VMware Player 7 Pro, respectively.
VMware Workstation 11 and VMware Player 7 Pro will be available for purchase in December for US$249.99 and $149.99, respectively. Upgrades from VMware Workstation 9.x and 10.x to Workstation 11 will be priced at $149.99 and upgrades from VMware Player 6 Plus to VMware Player 7 Pro will be priced at $79.99, at the time of availability. Demos are available for download.