SWsoft, Microsoft Ink Service Agreement

Users of SWsofts Virtuozzo virtualization software can have a single point of contact for support.

On Feb. 20, the Herndon, Va., company is announcing that SWsoft will have access to 24-hour support from Microsoft for all its enterprise and hosting customers operating Windows-based applications within Virtuozzo environments.

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This three-year agreement, which starts immediately, is available at no charge to all SWsoft customers that are running Virtuozzo for Windows Server virtualization software.

"Were committed to expanding the breadth and functionality of our virtualization products for Windows and we are pleased to cooperate more closely with Microsoft for our customers benefit," said Serguei Beloussov, the CEO of SWsoft, in a statement.

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SWsofts Virtuozzo products create VPSes (virtual private servers) that enterprises can use for such tasks as server consolidation projects, disaster recovery and better capacity planning. In addition to supporting Windows, the company has been producing software for Linux since 2002. In June 2005, the first version of the software for Windows became generally available.

Like up-and-coming companies such as Virtual Iron, SWsoft is trying to grab a larger sale of the virtualization market that has been dominated by VMware, a subsidiary of EMC.

While a recent survey showed that companies are more eager than ever to learn about and use virtualization technology in the data center, VMware and its products remain the dominant presence in the market.

A SWsoft spokesman said that the company does hope the agreement with Microsoft will "accelerate Virtuozzos customer momentum."

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