On the eve of its VMworld user event in Las Vegas, virtualisation specialist VMware has unveiled new solutions for virtual desktops, more products to manage the virtual datacentre, and a cloud computing offering.

VMware unveiled two related initiatives aimed at helping enterprises make use of cloud computing, utilising their own infrastructure and that of external service providers.

The Virtual Datacenter Operating System (VDC-OS) expands the firm's existing virtualisation suite to enable organisations to pool their servers, storage and network resources into an on-premise cloud that can be allocated to applications as necessary, according to VMware.

The company is adding in a host of applications to VDC-OS, including Application vServices for fault tolerance and Hot Add, which lets users add more components like memory and CPUs without shutting down systems.

A VNetwork Distributed Switch function has also been added to allow the control of up to 16 ESX hosts from a single switch.

Meanwhile, the vCloud Initiative enables organisations to extend capacity when needed by making use of external clouds operated by VMware's service provider partners.

This can safely federate workloads to external clouds for additional compute resources, the company said.

"We will be the cloud providers for virtualisation just like Cisco provided all the hubs and routers during the internet boom," said Paul Maher, VMware head of communications.

The vCloud system will allow software from a wide variety of vendors to be deployed using VMware's technology.

The company announced more than 100 supporting partners include BT, R ackspace, SAVVIS, Sungard, T-Systems, and Verizon Business.