Virtual Computing Age Arrives Soon

Intel's forthcoming dual-core processors will contain "Vanderpool" technology (VT), hardware that enables new operating-system-like software running in a "hypervisor" to efficiently control multiple operating system instances. AMD will release its virtualization spec this month.

Virtualization allows two key things to happen on computers: running multiple OSs concurrently; and, running multiple users in hardware-protected "partitions" so the users cannot corrupt each other.

Virtual processors have been around in the mainframe and Risc-Unix world for (up to) decades, so the ideas are not new. What is new is that not just servers will get a hardware assist for virtualization. Small business, notebook, and enterprise & consumer desktops will also have the option for virtual processing.

Xeon processors with virtualization are a must-but for enterprises looking at better security on multi-application machines, and particularly for server consolidation. Save those Windows NT Server licenses! They may be valuable. (Just kidding)

Virtual processing will come slowly to consumers
In spite of VT-enabled desktops reaching consumers this summer, almost no consumers will use the technology in 2005. Virtual OS software from market leader VMware is geared to corporate workstations. It may come in a shrink-wrapped box, but it is not conceived as an average-home product. Leading adopters who buy VMware for their new Smithfield computers will find the "gotcha" in this implementation of virtual technology: each OS instance boots into its own real memory. With Windows XP, that means each user partition should have 256MB, plus room for the hypervisor. That means a 3-user home system running VT will require between 1 - 2 GB of memory, raising the price well beyond the mainstream. Ditto for corporate users.

It's not clear what Microsoft has up its sleeve for desktop/notebook virtualization in the 2006 Longhorn timeframe. If MS were able to share OS code (but not data) across partitions, a lot of the memory bloat from redundant code would be minimized. I am not counting on this, however, as the likelyhood is remote. Too complex to engineer. Even Microsoft's server virtualization product is currently an add-on to Windows Server 2003. My take is consumer virtualization with efficient OS support is a generation beyond Longhorn, which means at the turn of the decade.

Peter S. Kastner