VMware DPM, part of the VMware vSphere 4 platform, lowers power usage in the datacenter by aggregating unused capacity and powering off unused servers.

VMware, Inc., a provider of virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, today announced that VMware global partners, including Dell, Fujitsu, HP, IBM and NEC, have announced their support of using VMware Distributed Power Management (DPM) to make their hardware even more power efficient. The company states that VMware DPM, part of the VMware vSphere 4 platform, lowers power consumption in the datacenter by aggregating unused capacity and powering off unused servers without disrupting service levels, helping customers slash energy consumption by as much as 20 percent.

''We saw an opportunity to save even more power for our customers by focusing on partially used servers in virtualized environments,'' said Dr. Stephen Herrod, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of R&D at VMware. ''VMware DPM essentially performs server defragmentation. VMware DPM determines the best way to consolidate workloads onto the fewest number of physical servers needed to meet the applications' performance requirements. VMware DPM then powers off unneeded servers to reduce datacenter energy consumption, powering them back on when the performance needs require more physical resources. This is done automatically, without disruption, while ensuring application SLAs are satisfied. Combined with energy-efficient hardware from our server partners, customers have an opportunity to save costs and make a positive impact in their carbon footprints.''

''Companies are facing growing pressures to boost the computing output of their datacenters without increasing the associated energy and operational costs or space requirements,'' said Sally Stevens, Vice President, Platform Marketing, Dell.''The combination of energy-efficient Dell PowerEdge servers with VMware DPM helps our customers minimize the power and cooling needs of their IT infrastructures. The ability to use VMware vSphere 4 to shut down unused PowerEdge servers without impacting operations gives our customers an extremely efficient, flexible and reliable datacenter.''

''Customers are facing increasing pressures to minimize datacenter power consumption while increasing the IT budget effectiveness,'' said Doug Oathout, vice president, Green IT, Enterprise Storage and Servers, HP. ''HP, together with VMware, can deliver highly advanced power management through VMware DPM and HP servers supporting Dynamic Power Capping.''