BEA Says No OS Necessary With WebLogic Server Virtual Edition

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LiquidVM is still very much a first-generation product, meaning initial applications likely will be limited. While servers are moving to 64 bits, it currently supports only 32-bit applications, limiting each VM to 3.8 Gbytes of addressable memory space. And because it's designed to take advantage of hardware-assisted virtualization technology in x86 chips, it doesn't support other hardware platforms that JRockit is compatible with, including Itanium.

The only hypervisor that LiquidVM runs on is VMware ESX, though others are planned in response to customer demand. A new version, due in late 2007, will add support for XenSource's implementation of Xen, while the revision after that will support Microsoft's Viridian hypervisor. Running on new hypervisors is simply a matter of testing and support, as all are emulating the same underlying hardware.

LiquidVM's most direct competitor is Linux, increasingly promoted by BEA competitors IBM and Sun as a platform for Java. Neither plans to abandon the OS, though both are developing management tools that aim to simplify virtualization in an SOA.

Microsoft is following much the same strategy, though based on .Net and Windows. If BEA enters the virtual appliance market, it will face more competition from Linux, whose open source nature means vendors can already discard components they don't need.

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