VMworld 2012: Oracle, Red Hat Chat Virtualization

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) each had a small but noticeable presence at VMworld 2012. Call it a case of cooperating, even amid potential competition between Oracle VM, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) 3.1 and VMware vSphere

VMware certainly wants to tout its work with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Oracle applications. At the same time, VMware is shifting the conversation from server virtualization to datacenter virtualization.

More precisely, VMware wants to enable software-defined networks, storage and servers across public clouds and private clouds. The key to that effort: vCloud Suite 5.1.

But Oracle, Red Hat and Microsoft (not present) are trying to encroach on VMware’s hypervisor business. Days before the event started, Oracle VM claimed to be the fastest, best hypervisor for deploying and managing virtualization Oracle applications.

And during the conference, Red Hat announced a RHEV 3.1 limited beta. Watch for a broader beta later this year.

Microsoft, meanwhile, was not at the conference. A Windows Server 2012 with improved Hyper-V release, set for September, is earning attention from Microsoft partners. But VMware CEO Paul Maritz says it’s more of the same from Microsoft.

Hmmm… Let the competition continue — some of it even on the VMworld trade show floor.