VMware demoed a Nokia N800 featuring its mobile hypervisor at its VMworld Europe conference, showing Windows CE and Google’s Android running at the same time.
In a keynote at VMworld Europe, chief technology officer (CTO) Stephen Herrod unveiled the firm’s mobile virutalisation platform, explaining that phones featuring hypervisors – the technology that allows virtualisation – will have two main functions.
The first enables users to back up their system and data on a virtual machine, so if they get a new phone they can easily transfer contacts and other information regardless of the operating system. “What data is on a device will outlive the device,” he said.
This will also make developing mobile applications much easier, as developers can embed it on a virtual machine with a thin operating system of its own, removing the need to ensure interoperability with different systems.
The second use involves running multiple virtual machines on a single phone. This will let users run two profiles at the same time. “People don’t want to carry two phones – one approved by IT, and one that’s a bit cooler,” said Herrod, who added that this move was another step towards “employee-owned IT.”
This sounds like a great idea….Now all we need is more powerful processors….We’re all looking at you Intel….The “Hz” race is on again :-)