VMware Announces VMware Workstation 11 and VMware Player 7 Pro

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 1, 2014) - VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, today announced VMware Workstation™ 11, the newest version of its leading PC virtualization solution. Celebrating 15 years of virtualization excellence and having garnered more than 50 industry awards, VMware Workstation 11 will offer Windows 10 Tech Preview readiness, state of the art performance and cloud connectivity with VMware vCloud® Air™ integration to support the most advanced computing environments.

"VMware Workstation™ pioneered the virtualization industry 15 years ago and countless industries and professionals have since used the solution to effectively help modernize the workplace," said Nicolas Rochard, director of product marketing, End-User Computing, VMware. "VMware Workstation™ 11 will be the ultimate Swiss army knife that helps developers and IT administrators extend their virtual environments from their laptops, to the datacenter and the public cloud."

VMware Workstation 11
VMware Workstation 11 will deliver leading-edge features and performance that technical professionals will be able to rely on every day when working with virtual machines. With support for the latest version of Windows and Linux, the latest processors and hardware, and the ability to connect to VMware vCloud Air, VMware Workstation will be the perfect tool to increase productivity, save time and leverage the cloud.

Updates will include:

• Ready for Windows 10 Tech Preview - Run more than 200 operating systems including the latest Microsoft Windows 10 Tech Preview. Technical users can also use Windows 2012 R2 for servers, Ubuntu 14.10, RHEL 7, CentOS 7, Fedora 20, Debian 7.6 and many more.
• State of the Art Performance - VMware Workstation will support the latest Intel 64-bit x86 processors, including the new Haswell microarchitecture for maximum performance. Taking advantage of key new Haswell extensions, the solution will also deliver up to 45 percent improvement in CPU intensive operations like multimedia, encryption/decryption, and other strenuous performance tests compared to Workstation 10¹.
• Powerful Virtual Machines and Graphics - Developers and IT administrators will be able to create virtual machines with up to 16 vCPUs, 8 TB virtual disks and up to 64 GB of memory to run the most demanding applications. Graphics-intensive applications will be given an additional boost by allocating up to 2 GB of video memory per virtual machine.
• Connection to VMware vCloud Air - Connection to VMware vSphere® or VMware vCloud Air will be available to extend and scale virtual machines on a public cloud. Developers will be able to easily connect to VMware vCloud Air and upload, run, and view virtual machines right from the Workstation interface to easily collaborate with remote team members and scale through a public cloud. Users will also be able to seamlessly drag and drop virtual machines between a PC and a private cloud running vSphere, VMware ESXi™ or another instance of Workstation.

VMware Player 7 Pro
VMware Player 7 Pro will be an updated streamlined desktop virtualization solution that lets users run one or more operating systems on the same computer. With added operating system compatibility, support for the latest laptops and tablets, and compatibility with VMware Fusion® 7 Pro and Workstation 11, the solution will make it easier than ever for IT professionals to get employees up and running with a corporate desktop.

Key capabilities will include:

• Enhanced Operating System Compatibility - VMware Player 7™ Pro will run on the latest release of Windows including Windows 8.1 and will support prevalent operating systems like Windows XP and Windows 7 in a virtual environment so users can continue to run legacy applications as long as they need.
• Greater Hardware Compatibility - VMware Player 7 Pro will be optimized to run on today's modern hardware including the latest PC laptops and high-resolution tablets.
• Updated VMware Compatibility - VMware Player 7 Pro will be able to run restricted virtual machines created by VMware Workstation 11 or VMware Fusion 7 Pro. Restricted virtual machines secure corporate desktops with encryption, runtime password protection, USB access restriction, isolation between the host and guest OS, and time limitation.

New System Requirements
While 32 bit operating systems are supported inside virtual machines, VMware Workstation 11 and Player 7 Pro will require 64 bit processor and 64 bit host operating systems for advanced computing and enhanced performance.

Availability and Pricing
Customers who purchase VMware Workstation 10 and VMware Player 6 Plus between October 2014 and December 2014 will receive a free electronic upgrade to VMware Workstation 11 and VMware Player 7 Pro respectively. For more details, visit the upgrade page.

VMware Workstation 11 and VMware Player 7 Pro will be available for purchase in December for $249.99 and $149.99 respectively. Upgrades from VMware Workstation 9.x and 10.x to Workstation 11 will be priced at $149.99 and upgrades from VMware Player 6 Plus to VMware Player 7 Pro will be priced at $79.99, at the time of availability.

Download a free trial at the VMware Workstation trial page.

Additional Resources

• Learn more about VMware Workstation 11 on the VMware Workstation Zealot Blog
• Read more about the new features in VMware Workstation 11
• Follow the VMware Workstation team on Twitter and Facebook

About VMware
VMware is the leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud Era. Customers rely on VMware to help them transform the way they build, deliver and consume Information Technology resources in a manner that is evolutionary and based on their specific needs. With 2013 revenues of $5.21 billion, VMware has more than 500,000 customers and 75,000 partners. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.

VMware, VMware Player Pro, VMware Player Plus, VMware Fusion, vSphere, ESXi and VMware Workstation are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. The use of the word "partner" or "partnership" does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding the expected availability of VMware Workstation 11, its expected features and benefits to customers. These forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to (i) changes to priorities and levels of government spending; (ii) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (iii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, industry consolidation, entry of new competitors into the mobile device, end user and cloud computing markets, and new product and marketing initiatives by our competitors; (v) our customers' ability to develop, and to transition to, new products and computing strategies such as cloud computing and mobile device management; (vi) the uncertainty of customer acceptance of emerging technology; (vii) rapid technological and market changes in virtualization software and platforms for cloud and mobile device computing; (viii) changes to product development timelines; (ix) the successful integration of AirWatch products and services into VMware; (x) VMware's ability to protect its proprietary technology; and (xi) VMware's ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees.. These forward looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that we may file from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. VMware assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

¹ Performance test results are based on internal VMware testing.