SANTA CLARA, USA: Sun Microsystems, Inc. has announced that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire innotek, provider of open source virtualization software called VirtualBox.

By enabling developers to more efficiently build, test and run applications on multiple platforms, VirtualBox will extend the Sun xVM platform onto the desktop and strengthen in the virtualization market. This software is available for all major operating systems.

innotek's open source VirtualBox product has been quickly established as one of the leading developer desktop virtualization platforms. Now, as part of the Sun xVM portfolio, VirtualBox will have the support of Sun's global development community, field resources and partners to make VirtualBox even more compelling to developers and end users, driving greater adoption across a broad set of communities.

VirtualBox

VirtualBox, open source virtualization software enables desktop or laptop PCs running the Windows, Linux, Mac or Solaris operating systems to run multiple, different operating systems side-by-side, switching between them with just a click of the mouse. This allows software developers to more easily build multi-tier or cross-platform applications, or power-users to take advantage of applications that may not be available for their base operating system of choice.

"VirtualBox provides Sun with the perfect complement to our recently announced Sun xVM Server product," said Rich Green, executive vice president, Sun Software.