VMware is already testing the beta version of the new ESX 4.0. Among the features offered are:

– 64-bit Kernel and COS: Although Virtual Machine Monitor already does, VMware carries its products completely in 64 bits;
– Virtual Center clusters: We are not referring to MSCS support for Virtual Center, but about the distributed management of the virtualized infrastructure across multiple ESXs;
– Profile management of ESX servers;
– Cross-platform virtual networking: Virtual switches may be defined in the entire infrastructure rather than in each switch, as was the case until now. Networking settings can be applied to the ENTIRE virtual infrastructure.
– SMP support for as much as 8 vCPU;
– VM fault tolerance for multiple hosts—last year’s famous Continuous Availability solution; Check out more details of FT & A video of it at VMbloggie article at: VMware ESX 4.0 FT – Fault Tolerant – Sneak Peek

– VM and media library (ISOs and more): Provides library support for templates and virtual machines. Versioning capacity of virtual machines is also expected;
– Control of access to storage: Until now, due to license administration, access to VMFS could not be controlled. The new version supports this new feature;
– Management and monitoring of configuration changes;
– Full support for SATA, and
– Support for the new Six Core processors.

As always, the beta testers will be bound by the NDA. As a result, we will discuss each new capability as it is made public.

Thanks to J. L. Medina for inspiring this article.