VMware Execs Comment on Future of Cloud Computing vs. OS

Are operating systems on their way out with the presence of cloud computing or are they here to stay? Vmware’s CEO and President, Paul Maritz, thinks that OS are on their way out. Last month, at the Structure 2010 Conference in San Francisco, Maritz, said that with the presence or virtualization there is less of a necessity for operation systems in data centers.

Vmware is the leading provider of virtualization technology and open development frameworks. The role of virtualization technology and cloud computing is growing with the major developments in the tech industry. The traditional roles of operating systems are being taken away as coordinating hardware resources and providing services to applications are all fulfilled by cloud systems.

Bogomil Balkansky, Vmware’s Vice President of Product Marketing, expanded on the issue. He said, “If you look at what an OS does and what vSphere [VMware’s virtualization and management platform] does, clearly there is duplication in terms of managing the hardware. Now, it’s the virtualization layer that is the first layer that sits on top of the bare metal. You don’t need that part of the operating system anymore that manages the hardware. That is one way the role of the operating system is diminished, because it no longer manages the hardware, at least for the virtualized servers.”

Balkansky did say that despite this, it is likely that operating systems will last for a long while because many applications depend on OS and rewriting and re-architecting applications is time consuming. Nonetheless, as Vmware does not provide operating systems, of course Balkansky is very pro-cloud.

“This whole notion of being able to enable a hybrid cloud and stretch the logical boundary of your internal data center to include third party infrastructure, being able to build and deploy an application in all of these different environments, but also move across these different environments, it’s a unique value proposition from VMware,” Balkansky said.

Maritz and Balkansky do believe that in a matter of years the operating system will be completely outdated as virtualization technology expands.

Read about the different ERP vendors, both Cloud and OS providers, in this Top 20 ERP Vendors Report.

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