Virtualization giant VMware may have watched its stock price drop, but that hasn't stopped venture capitalist firms from investing money in VMware's partners.

VKernel, a creator of virtual appliances that manage virtual server environments, announced that it had raised $4.6 million in its first round of institutional funding. The Series A round was led by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners.

"The server virtualization market is growing explosively," said Mitchell Kertzman, managing director at Hummer Winblad. "This has us very excited about VKernel's vision as it is providing the essential tools for IT staffs to virtualize their environments faster, more cost-effectively, and with greater confidence."

Founded in January 2007, VKernel is creating a suite of virtual appliances that address systems management challenges within virtual server environments. The company's current chargeback appliance enables IT groups to immediately solve today's critical pain points by providing cost visibility into the resource consumption of each virtual machine, resource pool, host, or cluster.

"Organizations of all sizes are virtualizing their server farms, which is creating a new set of systems management challenges," said Alex Bakman, founder and CEO of VKernel. "To be successful, IT groups need tools that address their most pressing issues. Unlike traditional systems management products that are difficult to install, learn, and use, VKernel is delivering tiny virtual appliances designed to solve specific issues."

VKernel's Chargeback Virtual Appliance is available for download on the company's Website.

Posted by David Marshall on February 10, 2008 05:00 PM