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Win4Lin Provides Xen a Windows Solution for the Installed Base

AUSTIN, TX, - Win4Lin, a leading supplier of Windows-on-Linux virtualization solutions, today announced the ability to host Windows desktop sessions (2000 and XP) and Windows Servers (2000 AS-based) in user space on Xen virtualization technology by using Win4Lin technology.



Virtualization has emerged as an extremely hot segment in the enterprise software market. The ability to achieve higher utilization rates in the data center is driving more and more excitement about virtualization software that allows organizations to consolidate many servers onto fewer servers.

VMware (EMC) is currently the acknowledged leader in this space. Microsoft purchased Connectix to try and gain some of this market share with the release of their MS Virtual Server product.

The Xen “hypervisor” technology is rapidly gaining popularity among the open source community and its principal backers, Novell, Red Hat, and IBM. Xen technology is being brought to market by XenSource, Inc.

The Xen hypervisor shows great promise and is exciting much interest in large corporations, especially those inclined towards using Linux. From a legacy perspective, Xen’s primary limitation is its inability to run any release of Windows operating systems. Windows support is planned through the use of next-generation hardware architectures being developed by the chip manufacturers Intel and AMD, known as Vanderpool (VT) and Pacifica, respectively. These technologies will be released in server form in the first half of 2006.

Support for the current generation of hardware and the installed base of x86-based and x64-based systems is the primary limitation that has not been addressed for use with Xen until now. With today’s announcement, Win4Lin has filled this gap. Win4Lin products run in user-space on Xen using current-generation hardware.

Win4Lin runs on Xen in what is known as DomU, the user domain. By running Win4Lin in an instantiation of DomU, a Xen user can run Windows 2000 and XP desktops for massive consolidation of desktops, or they can run Windows 2000 Advanced Server and its related server applications. Support for Windows 2003 is planned for Fall 2005.

“I am excited to see the beginning of a robust ecosystem evolving around the Xen technology", said Moshe Bar, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, XenSource, Inc. “Xen is unique as a virtualization technology because it offers opportunities to vendors such as Win4Lin to develop value-added solutions that meet customer needs”

“We are really excited about the broad enthusiasm the market is showing for virtualization and server consolidation” said Jim Curtin, President and CEO of Win4Lin. “Win4Lin already supports desktop and server consolidation, but adding a robust hypervisor understructure, and being able to extend the promise of Xen to legacy hardware is a powerful combination.”

Win4Lin will be demonstrating the ability to host Windows sessions on Xen at the LinuxWorld San Francisco Expo August 9 – 11.

For more information about running Windows on Xen with Win4Lin, please visit www.win4lin.com.

Win4Lin Product Family

Products in the Win4Lin family include Win4Lin Pro™, Win4Lin 9X™, Win4Lin Terminal Server™ and Win4Lin™ Home. Win4Lin Pro provides support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP on Linux. Win4Lin 9X (formerly Win4Lin 5) provides migration support for enterprise users moving from Windows to Linux by allowing the execution of applications that cannot be ported to Linux (i.e. missing source code, too expensive) with full support for networked environments. Win4Lin Home is a lightweight version of Win4Lin 9X that provides the standalone or home user with the ability to run needed Windows applications (like Quicken® and TurboTax®) on Linux. Win4Lin Terminal Server is the company’s enterprise solution for delivering Windows applications on thin clients via a Linux server.

About Win4Lin

Win4Lin is a leader in technology for creating virtualization solutions on Linux. With Win4Lin Virtual Computing Environment (VCE), the company supplies Fortune 500 enterprises, educational institutions and desktop users with solutions that allow them to run the Windows operating system and Windows applications on Linux in true Windows sessions.

For more information about Win4Lin and its products, please visit http://www.win4lin.com.


Win4lin, Win4Lin Pro, Win4Lin 9X and Win4Lin Terminal Server are trademarks or registered trademarks of Win4Lin, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.