IBM and Intel are holding hands now over an initiative to push virtualization on multiprocessors, saying larger, more expandable MP servers deliver the best return on investment.

To prove their point, they've come up with a new virtualization benchmarking methodology called vConsolidate that runs multiple instances of consolidated database, mail, web and Java workloads in multiple virtual partitions on IBM's industry-standard servers that's supposed to simulate real-world server performance in a typical environment.

It's supposed to help buyers compare processor platforms and system configurations and pick Intel over AMD.

They say they're going to send the methodology to some standards body or another.

The duo also created a VMware Infrastructure Sizing Guide. IBM says it drew on its virtualization expertise going back 40 years with mainframes for this exercise. It includes recommendations on target utilization rates, total number of virtual machines needed to run a particular application and the number of physical servers needed to support the workload and goals.

It's going to guide to large server configurations saying they'll support more applications when usage peaks and argue conservation of reserve memory across all virtual machines on a server and more processor targets for scheduling job execution.

The pair says both the sizing guide and the benchmark results identified memory as a key limiting factor in how many VMs can be loaded on an Intel server. Researchers collected data from 10,000 servers and it seems that while virtualization increases total processor utilization, additional reserve memory is required for application usage spikes.

That's why the IBM x3950 with its four dual-core Xeons was used as a reference configuration and its total addressable memory pool upped from 64GB to 128GB. Intel and IBM said they expect memory to expand in virtualization platforms next year.

IBM intends to bring out fourth-generation Enterprise X Architecture machines that support quad-core Intel chips in mid-'07. It said it would also open a Virtualization Resource Center early next year so customers can play with the new tools.