EXPERT RESPONSE
The release of XenEnterprise 3.2 does not bring anything revolutionary to the server virtualization landscape. However, XenEnterprise 3.2 brings many features that allow Xensource to compete with VMware. Among the features new to XenEnterprise 3.2 are iSCSI SAN support, VLAN trunking for the virtual network, SMP for Windows Guests, control over disk, CPU and network allocation, and support for more guests (Windows 2000 Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, and Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1).
To be fair, VMware ESX server has had the majority of these new features for a while. However, VARs can now start offering XenEnterprise 3.2 as a solid alternative to those customers who have simple virtualization needs. XenEnterprise 3.2 is getting closer to being a complete alternative for VMware, but still has some work to do. However, for SMBs, the features and price may be just right.
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