Sun Microsystems has unveiled Sun xVM, a free, open source datacentre virtualisation and management platform.

"The world clearly recognises that the move to free and open source software has led to savings, efficiency and competition. Virtualisation presents an equivalently compelling opportunity - but it’s a move not without risk" said Jonathan Schwartz, president and CEO, Sun Microsystems.

He added, "Sun xVM moves beyond server consolidation, recognising that virtualisation must encompass all datacentre assets, from the network and storage, to applications and hardware provisioning - while eliminating the risk of proprietary dependency."

Sun will also demonstrate two upcoming products at the core of Sun’s virtualisation offerings: Sun xVM Ops Center, a unified management infrastructure, and Sun xVM Server, an enterprise-grade bare-metal hypervisor.