For allt the fanfare around this summer's IPO of VMware Inc., which made the term virtualization the tech buzzword du jour, it's now becoming clear that there's a lot more work to be done, and technologies to be developed to further streamline the data center. Case in point: VMware, which pioneered virtualization, is looking outside its walls for technologies to improve on its own technology.

On Tuesday the company said it acquired Dunes Technologies, a Swiss company that makes software for managing virtual machines. And as The Deal reported on Monday, venture money continues to flood into virtualization technologies.

It's easy to draw parallels between virtualization and search, which also enjoyed an explosion of investor interest when Google Inc. went public a few years back. That comparison only goes so far. While it's possible to endlessly tweak Internet search technologies and develop new applications to search blogs or video and better prioritize search results, there's something fundamental about search technology that would always favor Google, as the first major player in the space. When it comes to virtualizing the data center, on the other hand, there are dozens of different pieces of equipment to address and equal or greater number of approaches to take. Judging by the flurry of venture investment and acquisition activity in this area, it would appear that virtualization is still wide open with any number of companies having the potential to dominate. —Andrea Orr

See Sept. 11 story from TheDeal.com
See Aug. 15 story from TheDeal.com
See VMware announcement

Tags: VMware, virtualization, ipo, m&a, vc, venture+capital