Called VMware Lab Manager, the product streamlines the setup, capture, storage and sharing of multimachine software configurations in virtualized environments. It features a self-service interface and library from which developers can access virtual machine images to deploy across multiple servers, Palo Alto, Calif.-based VMware announced Monday in advance of the launch of its annual conference.
VMware said Lab Manager enables developers, solution providers and customers to lower development, test and integration costs, as well as tap into a shared pool of server and networking resoures, eliminate manual setup, increase software development times and improve software quality.
The product leverages VMware's recently released Virtual Infrastructrure 3 platform, which consists of its flagship ESX 3 virtualization server and VirtualCenter 2 virtual machine migration, management and provisioning platform. For example, users can use the policy manager in VirtualCenter to define limits on individual developers or groups of developers using Lab Manager.
Michael Reilly, president and CEO of Foedus, a Portsmouth, N.H.-based VMware partner that specializes in virtualization, said the product will help him make additional services dollars and drive more customers to Virtual Infrastructure 3.
"This will extend the benefits of VI 3 across the entire software life cycle and present Foedus with an excellent opportunity to augment the value we deliver through our implementation methodology," Reilly said.
VMware Lab Manager Server starts at $15,000 and, bundled with VMware Infrastructure 3, starts at $35,000, according to VMware.
The product offers automated test, development and integration services, fulfilling the last mile of a complete software development lif-ecycle management platform for a virtualized environment, said James Phillips, senior director of virtual software lifecycle automation solutions at VMware.
"Virtual Center is optimized for the last three stages of the six-stage software development life cycle: staging, deployment and management. Lab Manager fits into the first three stages of the life cycle for developers: test, development and integration," Phillips said. "It's a full software development life-cycle solution when you combine the two."
In other news, Bangalore, India-based VMLogix formally launched its LabManager virtual software life-cycle management suite in North America.
VMLogix LabManager, currently sold and supported by services partner Trilogy for customers including British Airways, Ford, Motorola and Xerox, offers similar capabilities for multimachine sofwtare environments, including support for Windows and Linux. The company, which has a U.S. office is in Boston, said the product integrates easily with existing development tools and processes.
