VMware last week vowed to support the 64-bit architectures of Advanced Micro Devices and Intel with its virtual machine software for Windows and Linux.

The software maker, which EMC acquired earlier this year, said support will be rolled out over the next 18 months, beginning with the next update to VMware Workstation.

Expected to be available this quarter, the update to VMware Workstation 4.5 will cost $189 and will include support for 32-/64-bit hosting operating systems, running on servers powered by AMD's Opteron and Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology, says Michael Mullany, vice president of marketing for VMware.

In February, Intel announced it would update its Xeon processors with 64-bit extensions, beginning with a dual-processor chip, code-named Nocona, which is scheduled to be introduced in the next couple of months. Dell, HP and IBM have said they will roll out servers based on the chip.

Oak Associates, a money management firm in Akron, Ohio, has used VMware's GSX and ESX products for nearly a year. Scott Hill, senior technology officer at the company, says he's happy to hear VMware plans to support 32-/64-bit capabilities.

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Hill says he's looking at the new 32-/64-bit chips, but likely won't deploy servers based on them for a least a year, so he's happy with VMware's timeline.

"To be able to have on the same machine a 32-bit and a 64-bit operating system is important," he says. "There are a lot of machines that we have that don't require a lot of power, so they'll remain on the 32-bit platform. But then [VMware] will give us the ability to test the SQL environment, for example, in 64-bit mode [on the same physical server] to see what kind of benefit we'll get out of that."

In addition, with VMware's host operating system supporting 64-bit platforms, there will be more memory available for more guest machines, Hill says.