VMware’s rivals ramp up their efforts to create alternative stacks

As VMware pushes its vision for private clouds built around its core virtualization technology, rival vendors are ramping their efforts to create an alternative stack.

OpenNebula, the open source virtualization stack based on the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), last week released version 7.0 of its suite and billed it as “a major architectural leap” thanks to “a redefined cloud-edge orchestration engine … designed to support distributed, sovereign, and intelligent infrastructure across hybrid and multi-provider environments.”

The new version also added support for Arm processors, plus enhanced PCI passthrough that allows full compatibility with NVIDIA-mediated virtual GPUs and means users can deploy OpenNebula in “AI factories” – Nvidia-speak for datacenters or infrastructure pods dedicated to AI workloads.

The company has also improved its migration capabilities by adding more automation, and refined its cloud provisioning engine including by simplifying cluster setups. OpenNebula is already working on a maintenance release that include a full ...