Wintel axis powers virtualisation

Virtualisation is a way of getting a single computer to pretend it is many, each with its own operating system in a in a separate environment.

The technology, said the pair, is "promising". So, Intel said it would like to connect its new Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) with Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS).

The combination would allow network managers to fiddle with workers' PCs to chase down viruses or tweak other bits and bobs without interrupting the worker's productivity, says Intel VP Pat Gelsinger.

The pair also anounced plans to extend Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) to include support for mapping I/O devices to virtual machines on servers with a new specification, published at IDF, called Intel Virtualization for Directed I/O (Intel VT-d). Intel claims VT-d improves the performance and robustness of data movement in virtualised environments.

Through VT, Intel builds support for virtualisation into the chip. Microsoft said support for Intel VT will be cobbled to the Virtual Server 2005 R2 service pack 1, which it says is scheduled for beta release within 90 days.

As well as including a bunch of virtualisation tools, the service pack will also provide Virtual Server users with an transition to the Windows hypervisor, which will feature in upcoming Longhorn.

Virtualisation technologies have been championed of late by IBM. IBM, Intel and Microsoft enjoy scrapping amongst themselves. µ