VMware offers virtualization as a service

VMware launched a new program to enlist service providers to deliver virtualized server infrastructure as a hosted service. It's a natural step for companies that want to move to a utility computing, capacity on demand model, which can provide improved levels of reliability, scalability and cost efficiency. Hosting providers can sell VMware virtual machine capacity customized for customers, with the required OS, applications and other elements, based on variable usage models, such as by the month.

With VMware Infrastructure, multiple virtual machines are hosted and managed on the same server, but each VM is isolated so that a software failure doesn't take down the entire server. Hosting providers get the benefit of higher server utilization rates and more scalable infrastructure, and presumably can pass cost savings on to customers

VMware is offering the hosting service either as a VMware Infrastructure Enterprise license for comprehensive managed services or as a Starter Edition for individual Web site hosting. VMware Infrastructure includes rapid failover of virtual machines subjected to hardware failure and the VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler, which automatically moves virtual machines to less utilized hardware as demand on physical resources increases.