Windows Virtualization Hypercall APIs available via open specification promise Greetings! Jeff Woolsey here from the virtualization team and I've got some big news...
Microsoft today announced that it will extend the Open Specification Promise
to the hypercall application programmer’s interface (API) within
Windows Server virtualization (codename Viridian), and will be
available when Windows Server virtualization is released to
manufacturing (RTM). In the interim, today Microsoft posted an updated
draft of the hypercall API to Microsoft’s website
www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/virtualizationso that partners can continue to have early access to this important
development interface. Microsoft first distributed hypercall API draft
documentation to attendees of Windows Hardware Engineering Conference
2006.
The hypercall API enables partners to develop solutions with Windows
Server virtualization allowing customers to achieve dynamic IT
environments. These APIs are available for use by any organization
seeking to integrate or extend their software with Windows Server 2008
and Windows Server virtualization.
"The majority of our customers have mixed-source environments, and
they want their platform vendors to make things work together," said
Roger Levy, senior vice president and general manager, Open Platform
Solutions at Novell. "That's why we entered into a technical
collaboration agreement with Microsoft. As a result, Novell is the
first vendor to develop and ship technology that will allow a
paravirtualized Windows Server 2008 to be hosted as a guest on the Xen
hypervisor. Microsoft's decision to put the hypercall API under their
Open Specifications Promise will make it even easier for Novell, our
customers and partners, and the entire open source community to develop
high-quality virtualization solutions that deliver true
interoperability between Windows and Linux."
“Citrix is committed to the delivery of value-added virtualization
solutions for the Windows platform, so interoperability with
Microsoft's virtualization solutions is key to our success. This is
made possible by Microsoft's open and progressive approach to
licensing key technologies such as its VHD image format and the Windows
Server Virtualization hypercall API," said Simon Crosby, CTO,
Virtualization & Management Division, Citrix. "This will allow us
to ensure that virtual machines created on XenServer will be compatible
with Microsoft WSV when it is delivered as a component of Windows
Server 2008."
Microsoft is taking a step further in its commitment to
interoperability by extending the Open Specification Promise to the
hypercall API within Windows Server virtualization. With the OSP, any
individual or organization is free to implement, commercialize and
modify Microsoft’s virtualization format technology for free, now and
forever. In October 2006, Microsoft expanded its commitment to
interoperability by applying the OSP to Microsoft’s Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) image format.
As a reminder, Windows Server virtualization is scheduled to RTM
within 180 days of the RTM of Windows Server 2008, which is currently
scheduled for Q1 2008.
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