VMware vSphere 5 goes global

VMware has launched the latest version of its virtualisation software under general availability.

VMware vSphere 5 was first announced at the start of July, but users were made to wait a little longer before they could get their hands on the new virtualisation management suite.

In addition to extra automation features and claims of better application performance and availability, vSphere 5 now supports more powerful virtual machines (VMs). VMware claimed it can now configure VMs with up to 1TB of memory, alongside 32 virtual CPUs.

There are, however, three flagship' features VMware has drawn attention to: Auto-Deploy, Profile Driven Storage and Storage DRS. These allow for policies to be deployed then executed automatically, meaning managers only need to set the rules once and let vSphere 5 do all the hard work.

"With the release of VMware vSphere 5, VMware is helping customers accelerate their journey toward a more efficient and automated cloud infrastructure," said Bogomil Balkansky, senior vice president of cloud infrastructure products at VMware.

"The enhancements and new innovations we've introduced in VMware vSphere 5 provide a robust, reliable platform for any business application, enabling customers to effectively respond to the growing needs of their business and giving them confidence in their IT transformation."

vSphere 5 prices start from $83 per processor.