HP-UX to get better virtualisation support

HP will soon update its version of Unix to add support for virtualisation when it is run on Itanium-based servers.

According to reports on Thursday, HP will release a patch for HP-UX 11i v2 in July that will allow users to run multiple instances of the OS on HP's Integrity servers, which are based on Intel's 64-bit Itanium 2 chip.

The virtualisation feature will be called Virtual Partitions, or vPars. The addition of virtualisation — which has been available on HP's high-end 9000 Unix servers for some time — should increase IT managers' productivity.

July's update will also include an application called Secure Resource Partitions, which will allow users to securely operate several different applications on one copy of the operating system.

HP is also working on more advanced virtualisation tools, which should be included in the next version of HP-UX — 11i v3 — in 2006.