What Is VMware Workstation?
VMware Workstation is powerful desktop virtualization software for software developers/testers and IT professionals who want to streamline software development, testing and deployment in their enterprise. VMware Workstation allows users to run multiple x86-based operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and NetWare, and their applications simultaneously on a single PC in fully networked, portable virtual machines — no hard drive partitioning or rebooting required.

"VMware Workstation is a powerful tool for application testing, debugging and demos. To develop public key infrastructure client applications, we need to configure multiple tiers, which need to work together. The new Teams feature in Workstation 5 allows us to create the entire configuration on local desktops, which gives our developers tremendous flexibility and control over the environment." -- Murray McCulligh, Development Manager, Entrust

Shipping for more than six years and winner of more than a dozen major product awards, VMware Workstation improves productivity and flexibility, and reduces costs so dramatically that it has become an indispensable tool for software development and IT professionals worldwide.

• Streamline software development and testing operations. Create multiple development and testing environments as virtual machines on a single PC and use them to test "real world" multi-tier configurations, complex networks, and multiple operating systems and applications all on a single machine.
   
• Improve team collaboration. The portability and hardware-independent properties of virtual machines, coupled with new features in VMware Workstation, lets users easily share development environments and pre-packaged testing configurations without risk, and also facilitates collaboration between development and QA.
   
• Enhance the productivity of IT professionals. Allows system administrators and other enterprise IT professionals to test software, including new applications, application updates, and operating system patches, in virtual machines prior to deployment on physical PCs or servers in a production environment. IT help desk departments can create and reference a virtual library of end-user configurations to help them resolve problems more quickly.
   
• Introduce virtual infrastructure to your enterprise. Virtual machines created in Workstation can be deployed to the other desktop and server virtualization platforms offered by VMware. Introducing VMware Workstation virtualization to the desktop is an ideal first step to transforming your physical IT infrastructure into virtual infrastructure.

How Does VMware Workstation Work? VMware Workstation works by creating fully isolated, secure virtual machines that encapsulate an operating system and its applications. The VMware virtualization layer maps the physical hardware resources to the virtual machine's resources, so each virtual machine has its own CPU, memory, disks, and I/O devices, and is the full equivalent of a standard x86 machine. VMware Workstation installs onto the host operating system and provides broad hardware support by inheriting device support from the host.

• The only desktop virtual machine software that runs on both Windows and Linux host operating systems, allows users to create two-processor virtual machines, and supports certain 64-bit host and guest operating systems and 64-bit extended processors

• Broader device support, better performance and more powerful functionality than any other desktop virtual machine software • Powerful virtual networking options with NAT devices, DHCP server, and multiple network switches, let you connect virtual machines to each other, the host machine, and public networks

• Shared folders, drag-and-drop operations, and copying and pasting between guest and host

• Get the full functionality of native program debugging in a virtual machine with support for both user and kernel-level debuggers

• Easily switch between virtual machines and suspend/resume them

• Each virtual machine has confi gurable memory size, disks, and I/O devices, and also support for CD, fl oppy, USB, DVD, and CD-ROM devices

• Virtual machines are isolated from each other, ensuring that if one crashes, the other virtual machines

• and the host machine are unaff ected

• A virtual machine is a set of portable, hardware-independent fi les that can easily be shared

• Multiple snapshot feature to easily capture and manage point-in-time copies of running virtual machines and “undo” changes

• Teams feature to more easily manage connected virtual machines and simulate “real-world” multi-tier confi gurations

• Full and linked clone capabilities to easily copy and share virtual machines

• Support for new 32-bit guest and host operating systems

• Support for certain 64-bit host and guest OSs and 64-bit extended processors

• Experimental support for 2-Way Virtual SMP™

• Improved performance, especially for multi-virtual machine and networking workloads

• Movie record and playback feature to capture all activity in a running virtual machine

• Command line interface to automate certain repetitive tasks, including snapshots

• Improved Linux user interface and wireless networking capabilities

• Support for a class of streaming USB devices, including webcams and speakers

• Support for NX bit and experimental support for Sun Solaris x86

• Includes VMware Player*

Why Use VMware Workstation? Usage Scenarios   Benefits   Streamline Software Development and Testing Develop and test multiple operating systems and applications on a single PC Connect virtual machines to simulate and test multi-tier configurations Use multiple snapshots and debugging support to facilitate testing Archive test environments on file servers where they can be easily restored/shared Accelerate dev/test cycles and reduce time to market Reduce hardware costs by 50-60% Reduce costly configuration and set-up time by 25-55% Improve project quality with more rigorous testing Ensure that users always test from a "clean" state   Enhance Productivity of IT Professionals Configure and test desktops and servers as virtual machines before deploying them to production Test new multi-tier applications, application updates, and OS patches on a single PC Host legacy applications within virtual machines, thus facilitating OS migrations and eliminating the need to port legacy applications Create a virtual library of end-user configurations on a shared drive Reduce hardware costs by 50-60% Increase operations efficiency by up to 50% Reduce time needed to test new software and improve quality of deployments Eliminate risk to production networks by creating isolated virtual test networks Complete OS migration projects with minimal end-user disruption Accelerate help desk resolution of end-user problems   Facilitate Computer-based Training and Software Demos Package and deploy classroom material in virtual machines Allow students to experiment with multiple operating systems, applications, and tools in secure, isolated virtual machines Configure virtual machines to "undo" all changes at shutdown Demo complex or multi-tier configurations on a single laptop Reduce hardware needed in classroom Decrease time required to prepare for a new class Ensure that students always start from a "clean" state More stable demos and reduced setup time and hardware costs

Get VMware Workstation Now.
To purchase, evaluate or obtain more information about VMware Workstation, contact Five IT directly on +44 (0)845 123 2913 or email sales@FiveIT.co.uk.