Virtualization giant VMware has joined the Linux Foundation, lining up alongside existing members like Adobe, Google and IBM, the organization announced Wednesday.

Virtualization, the ability to run software in virtualized containers so multiple OSes or versions can run on one physical machine, is becoming more prevalent in IT environments. At its core, virtualization is enabled by software called a hypervisor, and can help drive down data-center costs, among other benefits.

The announcement is VMware's latest embrace of open source. Last year, the vendor open-sourced a number of its tools, and in 2006 opened up the specification for its Virtual Machine Interface, which enables guest operating systems to communicate with the hypervisor.

Those moves as well as VMware's move to join the Linux Foundation mean good news for end-users on one level, as they point to a general rise in openness and collaboration among virtualization vendors even as the competition tightens around higher-end tools, according to one industry observer.

"VMware has been focusing on standardization efforts much more seriously of late. They realize that the actual hypervisor functionality is being quickly commoditized, or near-commoditized, and like every other virtualization vendor, they're eyeing virtualization management as the source of green-field revenue," said Michael Cote, an analyst with Redmonk. "IT management is by its nature a heterogenous undertaking, and even for market leaders like VMware, that means promoting standards and openness, at least at the lower levels of the stack."

While VMware is the biggest virtualization player, it is facing increased pressure from companies like Microsoft. To stave off this competition, VMware recently said it would offer a small-footprint version of its ESX virtualization software free.

In other news Wednesday, VMware unveiled new certification and education services aimed at helping IT professionals better build and deploy virtualization environments.

A new certification available to IT consultants and other professionals is the VMware Certified Professional, which is given to people who demonstrate a certain level of expertise in deploying virtual infrastructure.

Another more advanced certification, the VMware Certified Design Expert, is available for network architects and consultants who are responsible for planning and designing VMware enterprise deployments.

VMware also is offering new Live Online and Flex Online courses to help IT professionals achieve the certifications and deploy virtual environments, the company said. Professionals also can take courses at VMware Authorized Training Centers.

More information about the certification and education programs is available on VMware's Web site.