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Microsoft and Citrix already are expanding their partnership, with Citrix having committed to standardize on Microsofts VHD image format as a common run-time environment for both virtualized operating systems and applications.

As a result, future versions of Citrixs Presentation Server, Desktop Server and virtual appliance solutions will adopt Microsofts VHD format, while Microsoft plans to adapt a future version of its SoftGrid Application Virtualization for both the desktop and Terminal Services to the VHD format, David Roussain, vice president for Citrixs virtualization systems group, told eWEEK.

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"By standardizing on a common virtualization format for both operating systems and applications, Microsoft and Citrix will enable customers to run interoperable solutions that can be centrally managed using our technologies," he said.

Asked about Microsofts history of publishing competing standards that many felt were not open, Roussain said the company published the standard to open up the market to as many players as possible and create an ecosystem around it.

"Microsoft wants to offer people choice, and it is enabling that here," he said. "Citrix is helping promote choice and setting the groundwork for the explosion of virtualization as it goes mainstream. The next big billion-dollar business for us is desktop virtualization, and we are aggressively working on the technology for that."

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The acquisition of XenSource, which supports VHD as its native run-time format for virtual machines, will extend Citrixs capabilities into both server and desktop virtualization, Roussain said.

Microsoft and Citrix will also collaborate on emerging virtualization technologies and virtual infrastructure management tools to help ensure interoperability and simplified administration for end users.

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