Comparatif prix Virtualisation Microsoft vs VMWare
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Ready, Set, Shop for Virtualization Products
To follow up on last week's item about Redmond's new Virtual Server manager, here is more news. VMWare's VMWorld customer conference held in California this past week featured the usual parade of products and vendor partnerships announced amidst the standard hype.
But the most interesting news at the conference happened behind the scenes. VMWare, the current market leader with approximately 60% market share, is getting ready to discount its Virtual Center pricing and offer new bundles and promotions before year's end, according to resellers familiar with the company's upcoming initiatives.
VMWare's anticipated price cuts are not prompted by a feeling of holiday cheer; it's to block their chief competitor Microsoft. Redmond has only half of VMWare's market share -- about 30% -- and is working hard to catch up. Right now, as many of you know, VMWare's Virtual Center is the leader in terms of features and functionality. Microsoft will roll out a major beta of its Hypervisor technology code named "Viridian" by year's end.
Viridian though, won't be available in 'gold code' general release until earliest June 2008, at least 6 months after W2K8 ships. So meanwhile, Microsoft is playing its trump card: pricing. Their executives held a series of customer and press briefings of their own during VMWorld to showcase how their list prices favorably compared to VMWare. And hard as it is to believe, Microsoft list pricing is anywhere from 42% to roughly 75% cheaper than VMWare's current retail pricing.
I was surprised since Microsoft is not known for being a discount software vendor. I reviewed the retail prices (based on publicly available list pricing from both Microsoft and VMWare's respective Websites) and confirmed it for myself.
Right now, a list price 'apples-to-apples' comparison of Microsoft vs. VMWare shows that Microsoft's Virtual Server costs about 50% less in a Single Server entry level configuration and two-thirds or 66% less in an enterprise configuration. In a 10 server configuration that includes management and Windows Server licenses, VMWare VI3 Virtual Server platform (including management and Microsoft Virtual Server licenses) retails for $58,750 compared with $33,600 for Microsoft's Virtual Server in a comparable configuration. Yes, I know that no one pays list price, but it gives you an idea of the pricing disparity that exists between the two platforms right now.
The big irony and main reason VMWare costs more is because anytime a corporate customer purchases VMWare's virtualization offering they also have to buy a Windows Server license (or a Red Hat or Novell server license if using Linux) on top of paying for the VMWare offering. Microsoft -- and the Linux vendors like Red Hat include virtualization for free as part of the baseline server OS. Ironically, the need to purchase client access licenses on top of a Windows Server license is the very reason that Windows list pricing is more expensive than comparable Linux offerings.
Conclusion:
The catch in this equation is that you get what you pay for. Microsoft's current virtualization product is a 1.0 release. Any business that needs best of breed right away should stick with VMWare or one of the smaller niche market players like Cassatt, Egenera, SWSoft or Virtual Iron to name just a few. But if your business is price driven and "good enough" will suffice for the time being until Viridian ships, then you might want to consider Microsoft's Virtual Server.
The bottom line is that the competition in the virtualization market is fierce. And competition is good leverage for corporate customers. The last Virtualization survey Sunbelt conducted earlier this year, showed that nearly one-third of organizations plan to deploy virtualization solutions from multiple vendors in their shops. Again, this bodes well for increasing your bargaining power with all the vendors since they will be anxious to gain and retain your business. I've given you some sample prices to judge for yourself. But don't just take my word for it. Call your vendors and resellers and ask them to give you some price quotes. Happy Shopping!
Single Server Configuration for Virtualization
VMWare Microsoft
Windows Server Enterprise License $2,400 $2,400
VMWare VI3 Platform $3,750 $0
VMWare Virtual Center $0 $0
Microsoft Virtual Server/Hypervisor $0 $0
Microsoft System Center Server Mgmt Suite $0 $860
HA/Clustering $2,000 $0
Dynamic Resource Mgmt $2,000 $0
Back up $500
Total $10,650 $3,260
