HELIOS Software GmbH announced it has released full server virtualization support for VMware, Microsoft, and IBM. As a developer of cross-platform networking, PDF, and image server solutions for Mac, Windows, and web clients, all HELIOS server products, including the WebShare, EtherShare, and PCShare cross-platform file and print server solutions, are now fully supported in virtual machine (VM) environments.

Virtualization has become a critical technology as demand for IT services increases, while energy and other costs necessitate a reduction in server hardware. Systems such as VMware ESX server, Microsoft Hyper-V, and IBM PowerVM allow the running of multiple "virtual machine" guest systems on a server. Several instances of Linux, Windows, and Solaris can run simultaneously on the same server hardware, allowing consolidation of servers, adding hardware flexibility while retaining service isolation.

HELIOS has added additional support to ensure that HELIOS Server Solution products running in a virtual machine work with high availability. The load balancing options of the virtualization vendors are supported as well to provide flexible usage of given hardware resources. Exporting and importing entire VMs allows quickly moving an entire server configuration to new hardware.

HELIOS UB+ Unbreakable Server Solutions deliver mission critical server solutions to enterprise, government, university, and prepress sites. WebShare, EtherShare, and PCShare provide integrated cross-platform networking for Mac, Windows and Web clients, with advanced file and print server services, and easy remote server administration. HELIOS ImageServer, PDF HandShake and PrintPreview bring advanced capabilities to design, prepress and printing operations.