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The hope is to bring hardware and software partners on board to start developing products that will benefit from virtualisation, which will ensure demand exists once the technology is rolled out in earnest - billed for the first half of 2006.

The technology allows multiple instances of operating systems and applications to run from a single hardware resource.

Intel is championing its own version - codenamed Vanderpool - and suggests that its not just high-end computing where virtualisation is useful with its increased reliability and robustness. The technology would be equally beneficial, for example, to a home media server that might have to facilitate streaming television programs to one device, run a computer game on another client device and enable Web browsing and serve office apps to a third - simultaneously.

Both Intel and AMD envisage virtualisation for both home and business, and both client and server. Indeed AMD is focussing on x86 incarnations - the lower end of server

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hardware. But with x86 server sales continuing to rocket, and the Linux 2.6 kernel supporting virtualisation technologies, AMD is not cutting itself out of a market with its strategy.

'Hardware virtualisation in the x86 platform opens the way for a new class of innovation, making the platform more flexible, more manageable, and more secure,' said Martin Reynolds, Gartner Fellow, Gartner 'Both home and business users will benefit from the technology, which will rapidly proliferate across the entire x86 market. It will transform the way that we use our PCs, more so than any other technology this decade.'

IBM, too, is heavy on virtualisation - a major part of its 'on-demand' and 'grid-computing' strategies - and Big Blue was one of the first to champion the technology. Sun takes this a step further, with the idea of networking the whole thing in the sense of 'utility computing', whereby computing resources could be available across the Internet and sold in the same way one buys water or electricity. Thus companies would avoid having to fork out for extra hardware simply to cover rarely reached peaks in demand, and instead simply turn on more computing power like turning on a tap.

Marty Seyer, VP and general manager, Microprocessor Solutions Sector, said: 'We believe AMD64 provides the most flexible architecture in the industry, and 'Pacifica' virtualisation technology will further that lead by helping commercial organizations improve the reliability and resilience of their computing platforms, increase security, and reduce total cost of ownership of computing resources.'