EMC said Wednesday in the US it plans to sell 10 percent of VMware stock this winter in an initial public offering (IPO), but added it has no plans to spin off the virtualisation company.
"VMware is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the history of the software industry. We expect the IPO to unlock more of VMware's value for EMC shareholders while also strengthening its ability to retain and attract the software industry's top talent," EMC chief executive Joe Tucci said in a statement.
VMware's virtualisation software lets a single computer run multiple operating systems at the same time, a task useful for consolidating work onto a smaller number of more efficiently used servers. The company has been moving gradually toward higher-level software for managing this virtual infrastructure.
VMware faces a host of competitors -- most significantly, the open-source Xen technology that's arriving in Linux and the upcoming "Viridian" project due to arrive by mid-2008 in an update to the upcoming "Longhorn Server" version of Windows.
But VMware has stayed a big step ahead of the pack: its revenue grew 101 percent, to US$232 million, in its most recent quarter, which ended December 31. Full-year revenue increased 83 percent to US$709 million.
EMC acquired VMware in January 2004 for US$625 million, but has operated it as an independent but wholly owned subsidiary. The company's founders, including its former CEO and now President Diane Greene, have remained at VMware.
