Intel has shipped a BIOS update for its Xeon MP 7000-based systems that will enable its Virtualisation Technology (VT) on servers with four or more CPUs. The feature has been built into the chips since they first shipped, in November 2005, but without BIOS support it hasn't been accessible.

HP, Dell and IBM are also offering the BIOS update to customers and the resellers that serve them, an EETimes report (http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=LNS5UYKOCTATEQSNDBGCKH0CJUMEKJVN?articleID=179101556) said.

The BIOS update will allow servers to run virtual machine management software like VMware's new VMware Server, a free tool running on both Linux and Windows. The company is providing the code as a taster for its more feature-filled commercial offerings like ESX Server and VirtualCenter. The software will shortly be joined by Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 and XenSource Xen 3.0.

All these tools will also support AMD's 'Pacifica' virtualisation technology, details of which the Intel-rival published this week, including the way it will support I/O device virtualisation, a feature not yet supported by VT. ®

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