VMware Inc. announced yesterday the release of VMware Server, a free new entry-level hosted virtualization product for Linux and Windows servers.

VMware Server, the successor to VMware GSX Server, enables users to quickly provision new server capacity by partitioning a physical server into multiple virtual machines, bringing the powerful benefits of virtualization to every server.

While not open-source, this entry-level virtualization server enables users to partition x86 and x86-64 Linux and Windows servers into multiple virtual machines (VMs). Server administrators can either roll their own servers or use such pre-built servers as IBM WSE (Workplace Services Express), MySQL, or Oracle 10G.

VMware Server beta is available for immediate download at www.vmware.com/products/server/. The product is expected to be generally available later in the first half of 2006. Support and subscription services for VMware Server will be available for purchase upon general availability.