Virtualization Sea Change?

I received word this morning that Embotics, a maker of software intended to help manage the virtual machine lifecycle, had been selected to participate in the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program. I’d never heard of this program, but it sounds interesting based on the Embotics press release:

Stewarded by the Emerging
Business Team (EBT) at Microsoft Corp., the program is designed to
connect high-potential startups committed to the Microsoft platform to
an extensive support network. This program provides access to Microsoft
people and programs, guidance on future directions and support to
accelerate their success.

Naturally, I assume this means that Embotics’ flagship product, V-Commander, is going to work well with Hyper-V once it becomes available later this year.

This announcement joins a number of other announcements in recent weeks by other vendors as well in support of Hyper-V, following Microsoft’s release of a release candidate last week. Some might interpret this as the beginning of a sea change in the virtualization market, further bolstered by HP’s integration of XenServer management (more information here as well). Is the tide turning against VMware? As more and more vendors announce support for XenServer and Hyper-V, the landscape for VMware becomes more competitive.