Competitive Strategies Case Study

VMware, US’ Virtualisation Software Market Leader: Real Threat from Microsoft?

OR

Abstract:
VMware Inc, a US based software company was the global leader in virtualisation solutions from desktop to data centre. The company enabled a single server to run many operating systems and applications through virtualisation. Customers, big and small, relied on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses. The company developed to be one of the fastest growing public software companies. In 2008, Microsoft posed a serious threat to VMware when it offered the Hyper-V hypervisor for free. It also declared that it could provide VMware's entire product at half the price. Industry experts believed that Microsoft's hypervisor was powerful and cost-effective for smaller organisations whereas, VMware appealed to the upper end of the market. The case highlights the origins of the virtualisation industry, VMware's growth in the industry, Microsoft's free product launch, its impact on VMware and future challenges for the company to hold on to its market share.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand the dynamics of the virtualisation industry.
• To analyse VMware and its success.
• To examine the threat from Microsoft.
• To analyse VMware's uncertain future.

Keywords : VMware; Microsoft; Software; Virtualisation; Hypervisor; Server; Intel; Strategy; Diane Greene; Paul Maritz

Contents : 
Virtualisation Industry
VMware: Success Story
Threat from Microsoft
Types of Virtualisation