VMware Goes to Germany

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Virtual server specialist VMware (NYSE: VMW) is happy to report a rapport with the germane Germans at SAP AG (NYSE: SAP). The spun-out EMC (NYSE: EMC) subsidiary hopes to grow this germinal agreement into greater things in the future.

"SAP is demanding," says a VMware spokesperson. "They're conservative. They're cautious of what goes into the environments of their customers." That's why it took so long to bring the middleware expert into the VMware fold, as the relatively new virtual platform concept can perform very differently from a straight-up Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), or IBM (NYSE: IBM) server.

While VMware customers could certainly run SAP applications in a virtualized environment before this announcement, SAP will now provide production-level support. VMware says that its customers have been asking for this for quite some time. If those customers end up buying what they asked for to begin with, this could be a nice new revenue stream for the platform provider.

SAP's bitter rival, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), still doesn't support VMware in production-level middleware environments, but there's ample documentation available on how to make such setups work, and VMware is working hard to hammer out a deal there. Oracle is already listed as a global partner, as the companies have worked out how to support database installations on virtual servers.

It's getting harder to find companies that don't support virtual server installations these days, though VMware ain't the only game in town. Several of the company's official partners have virtual server platforms and strategies of their own, including IBM and Oracle.

Still, VMware has the first-mover advantage and all the name recognition that comes with it. Mindshare can translate into market share, and in a hot field like virtualization, that could prove a lucrative advantage. Danke schoen for the helping hand, SAP -- now invite your friends to the party.

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