Citrix and Microsoft Gain on VMware

VMware has clearly held the top spot in the burgeoning virtualization market, running ahead of competitors Citrix and Microsoft. Yet the race appears to be shifting, reports Paul Rubens.

“What, me worry?” is the signature phrase of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman. It probably also sums up VMware’s reaction to Gartner’s latest assessment of the server virtualization market.

VMware dominates this market, and it’s long been the only leader, as defined by one of Gartner’s famous Magic Quadrants. But the latest Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure report, published last week, adds Microsoft and Citrix to the coveted top-right Leaders section.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) are, in other words, catching up with VMware’s virtualization technology. “Although market share leader VMware (NYSE: VMW) continues to set the standard in products and the pace in terms of strategy, Microsoft has increased its market share (especially among midmarket customers new to virtualization), and Citrix is leveraging its desktop virtualization strengths and its free XenServer offering to expand its server virtualization share,” says the report.

It’s no surprise that competition has heated up — everyone wants a shareof the server virtualization bonanza. Right now, about 40 percent of x86 architectureworkloads have been virtualized, and the installed base is expected to growby 500 percent from 2010 to 2015 as the number of workloads grows and virtualizationlevels reach more than 75 percent, Gartner (NYSE:IT)reckons.

Read the rest about Citrix, Microsoft and VMware at ServerWatch.