One Reason NOT to upgrade to 64bit Mode in Snow Leopard

VIRTUAL MACHINE SUPPORT!

After posting the roundup of issues with the release along with the hint on how to force 64bit mode a number of readers and colleagues noted that VM support was absent in the musing. After some post analysis it does appear that the Virtual Machine market in the 64bit host arena is very weak when it comes to this support.

Crossover Mac (the WINE port), has a number issues while VirtualBox, VMware Fusion, and Parallels may not even launch and this is not to mention the few others that are in the consumer market. Suggestion for now. If you need to run a consumer virtual machine on your Mac, then wait to force your copy of Snow Leopard to boot into 64Bit mode. Let it run in 32bit mode and you will be fine for now. Those who use these tools in the enterprise will find that the running VMware Fusion and Parallels does have support under the Snow Leopard Server version but this would not be something a consumer wants to tote around on a MacBookPro.

Stay tuned more to come

-ZuCom

Parallels Virtualizes OS X (Server)

ZuCom has been provided with an advance copy of Parallels Server 3.0 for Mac. (you too can get it now that it's public. at www.parallels.com). With a little over a month in use we can report that the engineering of this solution is clearly of a new caliber. This product targets enterprise shops who need to get serious about virtualizing the Mac platform.

While this product only allows the virtualization of OS X Server (Leopard Server 10.3), it does so with a no-nonsense design and offers most tools you'll need to manage a large infrastructure of VM's. With P2V tools, Management Consoles and even remote management from command line, the only thing missing from this package is a system monitoring tool (something that Parallels engineers say is something they've had a number of requests for).

With all this one has to ask where you could go wrong? Truthfully we cannot. With a starting price just north of $1200.00 (it's un-confrirmed but we think that's per host machine) it's a heck of a lot cheaper than competitors from an entry point but still a little high for the small shop who's trying to manage costs (but even that point is arguable in most circumstances).

I must make one thing clear, this is not a desktop VM solution so if that's what your looking for look at their other products. The integrated desktop features you've seen with other Parallels and VMWare aren't what this product is about. This product is clearly intended to reduce server rack space in your data center and provide you with the tools to manage that infrastructure. Simply put it does that VERY well at a competitive cost.

Overall ZuCom recommends the product and will offer support to enterprise and small business clients looking to leverage this new technology.

-Robert Zullo

ZuCom